A Most Unlikely Partnership
by Aster Sapphire
Summary: Life has a way of throwing certain situations our way that we never expect. It will choose not just any situation, but the one we always feel is the most bizzare. It is especially bizzare when this unexepected situation that we are forced to endure, just so happens to be the only way we will survive... Re-write. Beta read by AlexHamato. Full summary inside.
1. Prolouge

**(A/N): Just wanted to give a HUGE thank you to my beta reader Alex Hamato for her help with this fic. She's awesome! ;-)**

**Summary: After the Tengu Shredder injuries Karai she, is bought to April's home by the turtles for help. Though soon after she heals, she begins having disturbing dreams about Chaplin being tortured by the Shredder. Despite her remaining injuries, she sets out to find him after one of her nightmares was too sadistic, and realistic to ignore. But she is followed by a curious April. After being attacked the two are not able to turn back and must flee in the opposite direction of help. They must now choose to either rely on each other for survival or perish. Rather it be because of the Tengu Shredder, or because of their seemingly, undying hatred for each other. **

**Disclaimer: TMNT is not mine. I own nothing.**

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Karai pulled at her chains in an attempt to free herself but with no prevail and winced as the cuffs around her wrist grew tighter. She felt her hands become slightly numb as it began harder for blood to flow to them. _No doubt a _Tengu _spell._ She thought to herself with a grim expression on her face. She released a sigh mixed with frustration, hopelessness, defeat, hatred, but most of all, shame. Many things were going through her head as she angrily leaned her head forward before slamming it back against the brick wall she was chained to. The pain that came as a result of the action was overshadowed by the anger boiling inside of her. She closed her eyes and said a silent apology to her father for her failure.

She wrinkled her nose as a tang of blood filled her nose her again. April did the same. The two of them had shed much of it in the past 24 hours. Some of it was from their own, some was from the large number of the Tengu's soldiers they had to stand against and some even belonged the other.

"I'm going to ask you again." April said. She did not look at Karai when she spoke. She stared straight ahead with a scowl on her face. "_Why _did you leave?" April twitched and her nostrils flared when Karai did not respond. "Answer me!" She snapped suddenly. She caused Karai to jump, but still got no answer. Karai only turned her head far away. She still was not willing to tell April her true intentions for leaving. Her reasoning was no one's business but her own. After everything they had been through, she was not prepared to reveal that she had done all of this for him.

Karai did not respond. April snorted and laughed darkly. "Whatever, not like it actually matters anymore." She muttered to herself.

And it did not.

Because in just a few hours, maybe less than that, the two of them would die along with any hope of saving the world.

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**(A/N): Please review! **


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: TMNT is not mine. I own nothing.**

* * *

At approximately 3:45am in the morning, April awoke to the sound of a loud knocking at her door. Banging actually. She silently cursed to herself and moaned into her pillow. "Casey get the door." She slurred as she hugged her pillow tighter. not wanting to get up. All she got in response was a loud snore. Rather than get up and get the door, Casey rolled over and took the portion of the spread April had draped over her body with him.

"April, it's us! Open up!"

_"Leo?" _She mumbled to herself groggily.

This time, April bolted upright in her bed. She leaned over to Casey and rapidly shook his shoulder. "Casey wake up it's the guys!" She said frantically. She got out of bed and pulled on the sweat pants she tossed of during the night due the heat she was too lazy to get up and turn off.

"Wha?" Casey mumbled. He rolled over and fell off the bed hitting the wooden floor with a thud. He did not make any attempt to get up. He grabbed the alarm clock from the bedside table and held it in front of his face. He whined when he saw the time on the clock. "Babe, it's almost 4 o' clock in the morning. Who the hell is at the door?"

"It's the guys. Now get up! Hurry, you big slow poke!" She ordered. She tossed his sweatpants over the bed and he grabbed them. He stood up and hopped into the living room as he tried to walk and pull on his pants at the same time. Despite how hard he tried to do the task at the same time, and he really did try, he still tumbled to the floor.

April was already at the door and did not bother to look back and check on him. She opened the door, scared of what she would find on the other end. She was both confused and relieved when she saw that her reptilian companions as well as their father were all unharmed.

"What is it?! What's...wrong..."

April's voice faded as she looked at what appeared to be a young woman in Leonardo's arms. She wore g black jumpsuit that had a large tear in her mid-section, which oozed blood. Her face is covered with bruises and dirt and she was obviously out cold. Her chin length, jet-black hair was tangled and dirty. April recognized her immediately. Casey finally made it over to her side, his sweatpants on backwards and his hair disheveled. He noticed the look of appall on her face, and followed her gaze to the woman Leonardo held, and his eyes grew wide. After a few seconds of silence, April was the first to speak.

"Karai? W-what's she doing here? Is she-"

"No we got her out in time." Leo said in a reassuring tone. April raised an eyebrow.

"Got her out in time? You mean," April gapped at Leo and her eyes winded in shock. "You _rescued _her?" She asked crossing her arms over her chest. "Why?!"

"Look, I know this is weird but I promise I'll explain everything later. Right now we _really _need to get some help for her, or she isn't gonna make it." Don said. He had the same worried as the others did. She saw his hands were covered with blood. She realized that they must had been trying to save her on the way over and that they were serious right now.

April opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out. Her jade orbs scanned the faces of the worried green faces that stared back at her. They all looked worried and shaken. They all had the same worried expression on their face when they looked at Karai.

It was simply unexpected and strange, and given the life April now leads, that was saying a lot. April sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger.

"That explanation of yours better be very persuasive." She said, looking at Leo. "Take her to the couch. " She stepped aside to let them in. With a nod of thanks, Leo and his brothers rushed past her and towards the living room.

Casey followed April into the kitchen where she grabbed the medical kit. She grabbed a bowl from a cabinet and thrust it at Casey. "Casey, go to the bathroom closet and get me some clean towels and warm soapy water." She ordered as she washed and sanitized her shaking hands. She hated doing this. Even though she had treated injuries many times before, it did not change the fact that she hated having to do it. The heavy bleeding; the broken, awkward disfigured limbs were too much at times and it would take all the strength she had to not run away and vomit. Had it not been for either Casey or one the guys coming by her apartment injured every other night of the month, she would have never bothered with learning how to treat such gruesome injuries.

Casey re-entered the kitchen with a clean towel in his one hand and a bowl of warm soapy water tucked under his arm. The two hurried to April's living room.

Karai looked worse than ever from where she lay on the couch. She trembled despite the beads of sweat of that fell down her bruised, cut up face. She was covered in cuts that oozed blood, but what caught April's attention was the jagged line that ran across her mid-section. Blood gushed from the wound at an alarming rate and filled April's living room with its metallic scent. April swallowed bile that rose in her throat and exhaled.

"Is this the worst of it?" April asked no one in particular as she began to clean the wound with the towel damp towel. She had to send Casey to get another, the one she had was drenched with blood within minutes. He came back with a much larger bath towel and more soapy water. April thanked him with a nod as she continued to clean the gash.

"Yeah, the only other bad part is the concussion. She took quite a beating from the Tengu Shredder." Don said he rubbed the back of his neck. He gently applied a bandage to Karai's head.

"_Bad_ is an understatement. Shredder beat the shit outta her. Maybe _next _time she'll listen to us when we tell her not to face him." Raph paused and chuckled bitterly. "If she survives _this _time that is." Raph said as he leaned against the wall.

"Do not talk like that Raphael, she is going to survive." Master Splinter said as he placed a hand on Raph's shoulder. "We all know from personal experience how resilient Karai is. She will not let herself lose a battle this easily."

"So, do I get to hear the reasoning behind why you rescued your arch nemesis and bought her to my apartment at 3:45 in the morning so I can give her medical treatment and why you "need" her to live, or is this one of those, "it's better if you don't know" situations?" April cut in from her spot on the bed. She did not look up from her work as she spoke. She dabbed the gash on Karai's stomach with alcohol, still confused as to why she was trying to save her.

"We better get to know!" Casey said in a sudden outburst from where had collapsed in an easy chair far away from them. He was never any help in situations like these, so he just sat around until someone told him to do something. He would occasionally look up and see what was going on, but spent most of his time the chair slouched and relaxed. "I got up at 3:45am for this." He continued with a yawn.

Leo chuckled lightly. "In a way, yes to both. You two do indeed deserve to know, but I doubt you'll like the reasoning behind it."

April froze. Her eyes grew wide and she her eyes darted between Leo and Karai several times. "Are telling me that you guys are-

"What? No! Nothing like that." Leo retorted, his dark green cheeks flushing. He turned away to hide

"Wouldn't be a surprise though." Mikey said with a snort of amusement as he twirled the ends if his orange bandanna tails around his finger. Casey snickered from the recliner.

Leo shot Mikey a dirty look and was about open his mouth and say a retort that would start a full on war between the two, which April, was currently not in the mood for.

"Why don't you guys head to the basement and get some rest? I got new mattresses, pillows and blankets so you should be more comfortable tonight. I can handle this on my own." April said with a kind smile.

Leo looked reluctant but April spoke again before he could argue. "Look, if you guys are expecting to give me a good enough explanation as to why I'm trying to save Karai's life, you're gonna need energy to answer all the questions I'm gonna dump on you." She said placing a hand on her hip. "Besides, you look exhausted, and I can't say I blame you. It appears as if you had a long night." April motioned to Karai with her head, and turned back to Leo, who was trying his best to suppress a yawn.

He sighed. "If _anything _and I mean _anything _happens, wake us up." He said in his authoritative leader voice. Though he did not sound very authoritative due to the once suppressed yawn that managed to escape him as he spoke.

"Yes, mother." April said as she rolled her eyes.

"April..."

"Okay, okay sorry. If anything happens, I'll wake you up. I swear. Scouts honor." April said. She made a cross over her hear to prove she was serious. Leo lingered in the room for a moment before he felt a light tap on his should and looked up to see Casey ."Relax, I'll make sure nothing happens. You go get some shut –eye, I'll keep an eye on things up here." He said with a wink.

Leo nodded and got to his feet, "Thanks, Case." He said as he pat the older man on the shoulder.

Mikey let out an over-dramatic yawn and stretched. "Sounds good to me," He said as he rubbed his eyes. "I'd sleep in a bed of nails, right about now. Using your inner chi to turn into dragon and battle a demon sure does take a lot out of you."

Casey gave Mikey a questioning look an April furrowed her brow in confusion. She looked over to Master Splinter. "Do I even want to know?" She asked him.

Master Splinter looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Perhaps that is a story for a later time, April." He said putting a comforting hand over hers.

April smiled and shook her head. "It is simply _amazing_ how even now you guys still manage to surprise me." April said in amusement. "Bravo." She said clapping her hands slowly.

Donny laughed. "It's a ninja thing." He says with a shrug. He finishes wrapping Karai's head and stands up, with a stretch and yawn of his own.

Raphael stretched and yawned loudly. He then turned to leave the room, on his way out he ruffled April hair as a way of saying thank you and good night. She laughed and shoved his hand away as she stood up.

"Alright. Basement. All of you. _Now._" April said as she shooed them out of the room.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Raph said releasing yet another loud yawn.

They all leave and head to the door that leads to her large basement where she has cots, blankets, and pillows set up them for when they visit. It was like a second home for them when they came over, and needed some place to sleep where they were less likely to be seen by anyone. There was even a mini fridge down there as well as a half bathroom. Although she insisted it was nothing, they always told that had done too much for them.

They were just about to head down to the basement when, Leo turned and said, "Thanks April...I can't stress enough how much we appreciate this." Leo said genuinely. He placed a hand on her arm and patted it.

"Hey what about me! I got towels and hot, soapy water!" Casey protested in mock anger. He slung an arm around April and pulled her close to him. "We make a pretty good team."

Leo laughed and held his hands up surrender. "Sorry Casey, you were a big help too. Couldn't have done it without you." He said in a serious tone. Casey smiled and nodded in satisfaction.

April rolled her eyes and wiggled out of Casey's grasp before she slapped him in the chest. "No problem, Leo. I'll just add this to the list of all the other things you owe big time for. Now hurry up and get to bed." She said as she pointed down the stairs.

Leo gave her a small smile. "Will do. Night April." He walked past her and disappeared into the basement.

"Good night guys." She called down the dark stairwell.

There is a chorus of good nights from them before they head downstairs. She heard four thuds on the mattresses followed by instant snoring. She smiled to herself and closed the door and heads back to the living room where Karai is and her smile faded instantly. Casey placed a hand shoulder in attempt to cheer her up, but she just looked up at him and sighed. "Will you change the sheets in out room? I'm putting her in there instead of the guest room. Since she's injured it's best that she's comfortable." She told him.

Casey frowned and groaned. "Comfortable? She's a psycho-bitch ninja who's always trying to kill the guys. Let her stay-

April looked up and Casey snarled. He stopped talking and gulped. "I'll go change the sheets." He said in a small voice. He backed of the room slowly until he was no longer in view.

She glanced over the unconscious, Japanese woman; a scowl appears on her face. She kneeled down next to Karai and begins to remove all of her clothing with the exception of her under clothes.

When she saw the newly exposed skin, April notices dark purple, bruises and small cuts covering Karai's body. "Guess I should start getting to work." She said to herself as she began to clean the other cuts and place bandages on them. With each bandage she places, she finds herself despising the thought of having to help Karai even more sickening.

April was wrapped a bandage around the last of Karai's injuries on her calf. She glanced at the woman who was still unconscious in her bed. The same woman who had invaded the home of and nearly killed her newfound little brothers and father, prior to showing up at her Antique Shop and threatening her. The woman who set up a surveillance van up across from her apartment building that watched her every move and forced her to shut out all of her concerned friends and family members.

To make a long story short, April O'Neil is not very fond of Karai. Had Karai had been like any of the other villains they fought, she probably would not mind so much. But Karai was different to April. Of course like all the other villains, Karai would go out of her way and do everything in her power to kill the Hamato clan. No different from the other villains. But what made April hate her so much was the fact that she claimed to do it all in the name of honor. Just the thought of Karai's name and honor in the same sentence makes her want to laugh. But despite all these things, despite how much she didn't trust Karai and how badly she wished that Leo had gotten rid of her when he had the chance to that night when he returned from Japan, it did not change the fact that she was now having to nurse her back to health.

April had never wanted anything more than get rid of Karai for good. But it is not like she had ever had chance. Not like…now.

The realization clicked in April's head and began to wonder; what as stopping her now? Here is Karai, defenseless and vulnerable. It would so be easy for April to get rid of her for good. Now is the perfect opportunity. The thought is tempting, very tempting…too tempting. Part of her it almost does it. But the other part of her, the part of her that had spent the past five years learning the code of honor forbids her from it.

She abandon the idea. She cursed herself for ever even thinking that way. She stood up and went over to her drawer to get clothes for Karai.

She dressed Karai in a pair of exercise shorts and a tank top. As she dressed her, the thoughts of killing Karai while she was asleep and helpless resurfaced when she saw that her pajama bottoms were loose around her slender waist.

Casey entered the room and lightly knocked on a wall in the living room to get April's attention. She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. It's her way of asking "what?" whenever she is not in the mood to talk.

"Got the sheets changed." Casey said quietly. He kneeled down next to April and began to rub her back. "You okay, April?"

April did not respond immediately. She swallowed and clenched her jaw tightly. "I don't want to see her hurt them again, Casey. Not again." She whispered. She leaned closer to Casey wrapped his other arm around her.

"I know April. Believe me, when they said they actually wanted you to _help _her I wasn't too thrilled about it either." Casey said. He spoke with steel in his voice but wrapped his arms tighter around April in embrace.

"_But_…." April said warily, not wanting to hear what had to say next.

"_But…_they're big boys now. Not the teenagers you met five years ago. I'm pretty sure they're no happier about it than you are. None of us are. Hell, even _Karai _hates it. But we're all dealing with it because we don't have much of a choice from what I've been told." Casey said. He kissed April lightly on her forehead. "Everything will be _fine _April. The guys know what they're doing."

April looked up at Casey, she rested her chin on his chest and smiled. "Wow, Jones. I'm impressed. When did you get so smart?" She asked as she poked him in the chest.

"I'd say around the time I started dating _you_." He said as if it's obvious.

"That was so _cheesy_." April said with laugh and a playful slap to his chest.

"Never said I got any _deeper_ or anything. I actually ripped that a lot of that from a TV show I saw if it's honesty you want." Casey said as he held his hands up in surrender.

"Well then what _has_ being around me done for you Casey Jones." April asked with a corked an eye brow. She leaned away from him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"It's made me happy." Casey said as he ran his hand through her hair. "Perhaps the happiest I've ever been in my entire life." Casey tapped his chin in thought. "But then again there was that time when I got my hockey stick signed by Gretzky. Okay, you're a close second, but you're still on a pretty high pedestal."

April's jaw dropped and she gave Casey a mock glare. "You are _so_ dead." She said. April lunged at Casey, and he let her knock him the floor and she landed on top of him. He leaned in and was about to kiss April tenderly on her lips. But they were interrupted hen Raph entered. He gave the two a disgusted look and shook his head.

"Keep it down up here! You wanna complain about us being an injured woman by here in the middle of the night, but you two can sit here and get busy when _we're _trying to sleep?" Raph stormed over to the couple he grabbed April around her waist and tossed her off of Casey and into the easy chair across the room where she began to giggle uncontrollably.

"Get your horny asses to bed right now and go to sleep! I'm tired; I ain't listning to this shit all night!" He said. He stormed out and kicked Casey on his side on the way out before he disappeared into the basement.

April and Casey exchanged looks and laughed. They stood up and tip-toed over to each other. Once they were close enough, Casey grabbed around her waist and pulled her closer to him before he wrapped his arms around her middle. He leaned down and kissed her lips tenderly. When they finally pulled away they smiled at each other and Casey took April's chin in a light grip, and stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"Don't worry okay?" He said in a soft, caring tone that he only used when he was around April.

April just sighed and wrapped her arms around Casey's waist before resting her head on his chest. "If only it were that easy." She said quietly. And when came down to Karai, after all the trouble she'd put the turtles through, just "not worrying" and trusting, was anything but just that easy.

April pulled away from him and stood up. "Let's get her to my room." She said with a glance to Karai. Casey stood up and gently lifted Karai off the couch. They second they touched, April felt jealously ignite inside of her. She felt rather foolish, but did not care. She was a woman, she had every right to feel this way.

Casey looked back at her and grinned. "Green isn't a very good color on you, sweetheart." He said teasingly.

April stuck her tongue out at him and pointed to her bedroom. He snickered as he turned away and disappeared into April's bedroom. April stood in the doorway and watched as he tucked her under the covers. Just to annoy April, he leaned down kissed Karai on the fore head. "You sleep tight now." He cooed quietly.

April gasped and growled. She went over to him and slapped in the arm before storming off. "Oh come on babe! It was a joke! You know I only have eyes for you!" Casey said as he followed her. She disappeared in the guest room and slammed the door in his face before he could enter.

"Come on, snookems! Open the door!" He begged banging on the door with his fist.

"Don't make me come up there again! Shut up!" Raph's voice bellowed from the basement again. Casey sighed in defeat and made his way over to the couch with had bloodstains on it. He rolled his eyes and plopped down in the recliner.

"Women." He muttered to himself. He shifted around in the recliner before he was finally comfortable. He looked over at April's bedroom where Karai was. He looked out at New York and sighed, he could only hope that he was speaking the truth to April earlier and that the guys knew exactly what they were doing by trusting Karai.

* * *

_The body beneath her was almost unrecognizable. Almost. Although she wished that she had not been able to see past the layers of blood and grime that covered the body's familiar face. _

_The face. _

_The face was the worst part. It was frozen in a look of terror. The eye's wide and wild and fear. The mouth was open, prepared to release a scream that would never escape from his mouth. The face, once young and cream colored; was now shriveled and ashen. _

_She stretched her hand out and her fingertips to touch him. Her fingers lightly brushed the cold, leathery skin. Suddenly, felt him tense._

_A her hand was seized in an iron grip. It was squeezed until she felt and heard the bones in it shatter. She looked back at the face. The eyes were now longer distant. They were feral and wild like a wolves'. She struggled and tried to escape the grip but soon found herself pinned on the ground underneath him. _

_When she tried to sit up, he dug his claws into her shoulders. She screamed when they touched her. They burned as they broke through her the skin on her shoulder. He forced his claws deeper and deeper into her body until he felt them digging into the blood soaked earth beneath him. He leaned closer to her face and growled._

_His breath was rancid. It caused bile to rise in her throat. She turned her head and released it. It formed a foul smelling pool beside her. The acid burned her raw throat. She looked back up at him, her breathing was heavy. _

_He had a grin on his face, he looked different. The teeth, were now fangs. Rows and rows of yellow fangs that never seemed to end. The eyes were no longer eyes. Just glowing red orbs in empty sockets. Inside of the small, red orbs. She looked into them they began to grow brighter. They grew brighter until they were all she could see._

_And then, they were gone. _

_She was somewhere else now, but she was not sure where. Everywhere she looked she only saw black. Then she saw him. She saw him the way he was before this. Young, smooth skin, a bright smile. Spikey, cherry hair and green eyes._

_She smiled and walked over to him. He smiled back and offered her his hand and she took it. _

_That is when things changed._

_His hand was back to the way it was before. Cold, gray and leathery with crooked, yellow claws extruding from his fingers. He had never changed, he was like this all along._

_She felt weak._

_She looked down at her hand and was horrified at what she saw. Her skin shriveled. It withered until it turned to dust, leaving behind a bleached bone. Her skin continued to wither. It slowly began to fall from her arms and legs. Her hair became thin, wiry and gray. It fell onto the floor, where it joined the ring of dead skin around her feet. _

_She looked at him again and he grinned. He was doing the same thing as her. He withered. Half of him was already a skeleton. He smiled. Half of his face covered with ashen skin, the other half a ghoulish skull. He leaned into her face shriveled face._

"_Why worry for him," He whispered in a voice that was not his own, but the Tengu Shredder's. "When you can simply join him."_

_The two crumpled, and became a pile of bones of the floor._

* * *

Karai bolted upright in bed. Or at least she tried to. The moment she tried to sit it, several things happened. Her head began swimming and her entire mid-section ignited in pain. She let her head drop back onto the damp pillow. She realized she was sweating excessively. She closed her eyes and slowed her rapid breathing into calm breaths. "It was only a dream." She whispered to herself. As she lay there, Karai realized three things.

One, she was not dead.

Two, she had no idea where she is.

Three, someone had treated all of her injuries.

She tried to make sense of these things when the door to her bedroom opened and someone entered. The door closed behind them and the light turned on to reveal a woman Karai recognized immediately. In the doorway stood a tired looking April holding a glass of ice cold water in her hands.

"_You_." She managed to croak out in a weak voice. "What am I doing here? Am I your prisoner?"

April rolled her eyes and moved over the bed. "To answer both questions, the guys bought you by here so I could get you help. I wasn't expecting you to wake up this soon." She said. She grabbed the chair from her desk and sat down by the bed. "Wasn't expecting you to wake up at all actually." She took a small sip off her water and nodded toward Karai. "How are you feeling?"

Karai eyed April cautiously but nodded. "I am fine." She said bluntly.

"Didn't seem that way to me. I heard you whimpering in you sleep." April said. She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms. Karai narrowed her eyes.

"I was having a nightmare." She said without looking at April. "Not that it is any business of yours."

April bit her tongue to hold back a retort. She looked at Karai and noticed that she trembled and that beads of sweat were rolled down her face. April stood up and moved over to Karai's bedside. Karai flinched away from her when she sat on the edge of the bed.

"I'm not gonna _do _anything." April said in annoyance. She grabbed her glass of water and waved it in front of Karai's face. "Just thought you could use some refreshment." She said. Karai did not say anything else but allowed April to lift her head up slightly and help her drink the water. She drank greedily, ignoring the water that did not make it into her mouth and instead fell on to her chest. She did not care, it felt good anyway. Within a minute, the glass was empty.

There is a moment of silence between the two for a moment before Karai said, "This has changed nothing between us. You are a close friend of my worst enemy. That's _you _my enemy as well."

April scoffed. "Your _enemy_? You mean the same _enemy _who just risked their lives to save you because you were too stupid and arrogant to listen to them? Yeah, some _enemies _they are."

"I never _asked _for their help. If anything I was hoping that they _wouldn't _interfere." Karai shot back with the most intimidating glare she could manage.

"Ha! And _please _tell me, how would it have turned out if they _didn't _get involved?" April looked Karai up and down and snorted. "Not very well from where I'm standing."

"How dare you-

"I wasn't finished!" April snapped. She had cut Karai off, who grimaced but kept silent. "Now you listen to me. This _enemy _you're talking has gone out of their way to save you more times than I can count and you always stab them in the back, and quite frankly that's been _pissing _me off for quite some time now. So let me explain something to you." April said. "If you. Try. _Anything_. Or if you give me a reason to think we can't trust you, I'm gonna beat your ass so badly, that you're gonna wish that the guys had left you behind when they chance." April stood without another word and left the room, to go down to the basement and tell Leo that Karai had woken up just, as she promised she would, slamming the door behind her, leaving Karai trembling in anger. Karai cursed herself for not getting the last word.

She wanted to be upset about April's words but could only think of her nightmare about Chaplin. It had all seemed so real. She felt her eyelids become heavy forced them to stay open, afraid of what she would see, if she closed them again.


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: TMNT is not mine, I own nothing.**

* * *

It was noon, or what was _called _noon now. You could never really tell anymore. They sky was always a hue that resembled a withering red rose and was peppered with splotches of dark clouds. The sun, the moon, the stars; none of them called the sky their home anymore.

April blinked several times before the crust in her eyes allowed her vision to adjust. She was able to make out the surroundings of the room. The guest room, that is. The much smaller bedroom that could be found at the end of the hall; because of this, room never got much heat and was always freezing. The mattress was worn, lumpy and only a full size. Much unlike the plush, queen-sized mattress in her own room.

She almost wondered why she was not in her room, but remembered that it was currently occupied by Karai and scowled. April had given Karai her room to sleep in rather sentencing her to guest room due to her being injured. She yawned before she sat up and stretched her arms out on either side of her. "Curse, my kindness." She muttered as she rubbed her neck which was stiff from spending the night sleeping on a pillow that might as well have been have stuffed with rocks. She made a silent promise to herself that if she lived long enough to see her city restored to its normal state, that she would completely remodel the guest room so that neither she, nor anyone else would ever have to suffer from the room's lack of comfort.

She looked down at Casey who was still sleeping soundly on the opposite side of the bed. Only his raven black hair stuck out from under the covers, leaving the rest of his body buried under the spread. One of his arms was dangling over the side of the bed so that his fingertips just barely touched the floor while the other was wrapped around April's waist. She laughed a little and ran her fingers through his hair, undoing some of the tangles in it. She carefully lifted his arm off her waist, releasing her from his grasp. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood to her feet. She heard the sound of bubble wrap popping and observed to see where the sound came from, only to come to the heart-wrenching conclusion that it was her own body. Her own 27-year-old body, which had no business making such noises when she in her opinion.

April stretched and rose to her toes to stretch, only stumble back onto her soles when she felt yet another bone crack in her spine.

She sighed and wandered into the living room, which was empty. She whipped her head around the room in confusion before looking at the clock and reading the time. _12:00 pm_. She smiled. Noon and she was the only one awake. Just the way she liked it. April decided to take advantage of the time she has to herself while she can and do some training on her rooftop.

She tiptoed into her bedroom where Karai was sleeping in her bed. She was not stirring much but had a pained expression on her face as she slept. April was not surprised, given what she had been through during her battle with the Tengu Shredder, she imagined nightmares would be inevitable.

When April looked at her, actually just _looked _at her, not glared, or glanced but just took the time to observe. She could not help but notice how tired she looked. She took the time to let her eyes explore the bloody bandages, the horridly bruised skin and the welts that she had over looked because she was too busy despising her. She did not know what the Tengu Shredder had done Karai to cause such ghastly wounds, she pictured a battered Karai facing off against the Tengu Shredder as he attacked her mercilessly. Hacking, slicing, beating, bludgeoning. She shook her head and shuddered, casting the gruesome images out of her mind.

She fought hard against the guilt rising in her. _Very _hard, but unfortunately it was a lost battle because in seconds it felt as if some had punched her in the gut. Which given the way she had been acting, she probably deserved. After all, she had to admit Karai _had _been through a lot. Her entire army was killed, her headquarters was destroyed. While the life she lived had not particularly been a good one, it was still nonetheless, all she had ever known. There is also the fact she is under a lot of pressure seeing as how she is so essential to defeating the Tengu Shredder and she has no one else to turn to but the people who have been her enemies several months.

She sighed solemnly as she walked over to her closet. She opened the door and immediately spotted her yellow and black ninja suit. Whenever wore it during training, or the occasional mission the guys would allow her to accompany them on, they always teased her and called her hornet or bumblebee.

She quickly exchanged her pajamas for the suit. Once changed, she reached even further back into the closet and pulled out a small black case. She opened the box to reveal a twin set of _Tessen_. Two iron, foot long club shaped objects, topped with a small blade; her weapons of choice when Master Splinter told her she was skilled enough to choose. She had been training with them for about three years now. She was indeed no master with them, but was still experienced enough to wield them effectively in battle. Seeing as how she never before wielded an actual Japanese battle weapon, she could not help but feel strong and empowered when she held her battle fans.

She smiled down at them and stood to pull her hair into a ponytail before grabbing her iPod and headphones, and then she finally grabbed her _Tessen_. With a simple flick of her wrist, the small, iron clubs expand into two yellow and black, one and a half foot wide fans; each with several deadly spikes spread even across them. April smiled in satisfaction and with another flick of her wrist, closed the fan. She made went into the living room an exited through the window and onto the fire escape would take her to the roof.

Once on the roof, she walked over to the edge, looked over the slowly crumbling city of New York, and frowned. She hated seeing her home like this. The once prodigious buildings had been remolded to fit the grotesque taste of the Tengu Shredder. It was hard to believe this was the same city where she was raised. Looking at it now; that was not city she saw. The city she saw now was plagued with destruction, chaos, and evil, not the home she had known all her life. The worst part, there was absolutely nothing she could do about. She was no acolyte. She was not the keeper of any mystical powers that could defeat the Tengu Shredder. She had not received weeks of intense training to prepare her for battle with him. She did not have to ability to drain him of his powers. She was as much of a threat to the Tengu Shredder as an acorn was. She has to watch as everything she had ever known waste away and cannot do anything to help. She just felt so…_useless_.

It was not until she felt a warm droplet of liquid kiss the back of her hand, that she released her eyes were stinging with tears. She blinked them back and plugged her headphones into her ears. She turned her iPod on and flicked her wrist, once again expanding her fans, and began to run through every kata she had ever learned. Even though she was only training, and not actually fighting in combat, she still felt adrenaline surge through her as she moved across the roof, slicing the air. She moved with swiftness and grace she had obtained after she began her ninjitsu training. The _Tessen_, a weapon not particularly viewed as threatening on first glance, was deadly in her hands.

She did not know how long she had been on the roof when she heard footsteps behind her.

April reacted on instinct. She swung her leg behind her in attempt to kick the stranger in the stomach. Before she could make contact, her kick was intercepted and a more precise one was delivered to chin, and she fell to the ground. Before she was even able to think about sitting, a weight settled on her chest and her wrists were seized; forcing her to point the blades of her own _Tessen_ at her throat. She began struggle and was about call for help when her attacker spoke. "April?!"

April's mind came to halt and she ceased her attempt to escape from under the weight of her attacker. "Karai?!" She replied, her voice full of frustration and confusion.

Karai scowled down at April, but climbed off her. April got to feet and she took back her _Tessen_ from Karai. Neither of them bothered to apologize to the other.

"What are you doing out here ?!"April demanded in a hiss. April's mind did not hesitate to jump the conclusion that Karai had harmed the others. She took a step closer to Karai, her hands tightening around her _Tessen_. "Answer me!" She barked, her face wearing a grimace.

Karai growled and her nostrils flared slightly. "Not that it is any business of yours but if you _must _know, I was having trouble sleeping." She growled. She did not want to recall the twisted nightmare she had of Chaplin. The very thought of it cause her to tremble with fear and grief. She turned away from April in attempt to hide her damp eyes.

April glanced over Karai and snorted before she turned away. The sat in deafening, awkward silence for a few moments turned before Karai turned to April and spoke.

"You think that you are the only one who is in a hard place right now?" She asked with steel in her voice. "I resent the idea of having to side with my enemies just as much as you do, perhaps even more than you do. That, I will not deny." She took a step closer to April who had not spoken yet. Her grip had tightened around her _Tenssen_ until her knuckles turned white and her jaw was clenched. "But that does not mean I am not trustworthy. I want to rid this world of the Tengu Shredder as much as you do. I will do whatever I must to defeat it, and if that means I must side with my enemies; then so be it. Getting my revenge on the Tengu Shredder is more important to me than my rivalry with you and the turtles. If I am able to realize that, why can't you?"

April opened her mouth to respond but before she could say anything, someone cleared their throat and Karai and April turned to find Ancient One on the roof. He spotted Karai and April and let out a slight sigh of relief before he began to make his way towards them. They both had look down at him, for Ancient Was very short, as well as very round. He looked like a very short sumo wrestler, wearing only a dark red Mawashi and a matching unbuttoned vest that shamelessly exposed his chubby torso. He wore a straw hat and wooden sandals. No one could comprehend how Ancient One was so comfortable in his attire, but no one openly questioned him about it either.

"Good, I have found you two. We need to meet in Ms. O'Neil's living room immediately. There is something very important we must discuss." He said as he looked between the two. He was secretly thankful he arrived when he did. He sensed the tension on the roof that had been escalating so much that it was practically almost palpable.

Karai and April exchanged heated glances with each other, and mutually decided to put the conversation behind them and to go and see what it was that needed to be discussed. April turned away from Karai to Ancient One and bowed respectfully. "Thank you for letting us know Ancient One. We will be down there soon."

Ancient One returned the bow and made his way back to the edge of the roof where the fire escape was. April and Karai watched with genuine pity as Ancient One tried his hardest to climb over the ledge. He had the steps to help him when he was climbing onto the roof, an advantage he did not have this time. He was just too short and plump to make it over. It was sad to watch. It was like watching a turtle trying to get back on its feet after falling on its shell.

April turned her head away and chucked. Even Karai, after so long of not having a reason to do so, had to suppress a smile.

April and Karai exchanged glances as the Ancient One continued to struggle. They walked over to Ancient One. They grabbed either one of his arms and hoisted him over the edge of the roof, before lowering him onto the fire escape. The poor man had a look of utter shame on his face, but still bowed to them respectfully. He tapped on the window and Raph opened it, helping him inside. April and Karai followed him in.

April and Karai earned a few questioning looks and raised eyebrows (or ridges in some cases) from those in the room.

"Hello. I am glad you were able to join us." Master Splinter said directing everyone's attention to himself. "Please, sit we have something very important to discuss." He said as he motioned to the couch. He decided to be oblivious to the tension between the two of them, and avoided eye contact with them. April and Karai obeyed and took seats as far away from each other as possible, in hope of avoiding any further interactions with one another.

"So what's the haps little dude?" Mikey asked as he tossed a Pringle into his mouth and chewed it loudly.

Ancient One winced and groaned with each loud crunch that came from Mikey's mouth. "How were you able to stand that for so many years, Splinter-san?" Ancient One whispered to Master Splinter, as he watched Mikey eat several chips at one time, before he swallowed and belched loudly, oblivious to the disgusted looks on the faces of the people in the room.

"Lots and lots of meditation, old friend; lots and lots of meditation." Master Splinter said with a chuckle.

Ancient One nodded and ignored Mikey as he began to speak. "As you all know, because of…recent events," He said in somber tone. The room fell silent as a dark cloud seemed to pass over everyone. Ancient One cleared his throat and continued. "We are not as great in numbers as we were before." He said in a somber tone with his head bowed. The turtles all visibly stiffened at the mention of the other acolytes, as well as the ninja tribunal, who had all been killed during their last battle with Harolds.

They had only known the other acolytes, for a short amount of time but each had still developed a strong bond with either one of them. Leo's hand rose and caressed Gunshin, the beautiful, yet deadly blade that used to belong to Faraji. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Raph giving him a sympathetic look. Leo gave him a small and patted his hand before speaking. "Yes, Ancient One, we are aware. Every one of them will be avenged." He said his voice was as cold and sharp as the steel it teemed with as he spoke.

"Indeed they will be. But in order to that, we need a better fighting chance than we already have." Ancient One responded solemnly. He bowed his head, and his heart once again became heavy when he recalled the death of acolytes who bravely fought an already lost battle to their last breath.

"Fighting chance? What fighting chance?" Raph exclaimed irately. His gruff, angry voice pulled the Ancient One out of his thoughts. "We _have _no fighting chance. We have none of the artifacts, no other acolytes and no ninja tribunal. The only acolytes left are the four of us, and we were just barely able to hold off the Shredder the last time we fought him!"

"I understand that, Raphael," Ancient One said in a calm and cautious voice.

"Which is why, the Ancient One and I have come to the conclusion that we will need to reach out to our closest allies for assistance." He looked up at everyone else and sighed. "And perhaps, our enemies even." Master Splinter said bitterly.

Mikey lost interest in the bag of chips he had been devouring and looked at Master Splinter, the wide slits on his mask wide with shock.

"Ummm, aren't already doing that Master Splinter?" Casey asked making a head motion towards Karai, who snarled at him in turn. He turned away from her and found a sudden interest in his feet.

"Yeah, and you said that all she has to do is drain him of his powers, long enough for the guys to defeat him right?" April added on, not attempting to hide the fact that she was upset. Her face was as red as her lips were pouted and her bottom jaw trembled. A rather childish thing she tended to do when she was angry. It had earned her relentless teasing from the guys over the years but at the moment, no one seemed to find it funny.

Master Splinter sighed. "I am afraid it is not that simple, my child. The Tengu Shredder still has an entire army of demons who will have to be defeated if they are ever to make it close enough to defeat them. Without the other acolytes and the ninja tribunal, it pains me to say that the four of them alone will not be able to defeat them. We are _going _to need assistance."

"We have plenty of _friends _who'll help us," Mikey chimed in optimistically. "We have the Justice Force, Usagi and Gen, Raptor-

"That will not be enough, my son," Master Splinter, cut in using a stern tone. He took a deep breath before continuing, "While I know many of you will be against this, our allies alone, will still not be enough. Our best option is to try and get help from both sides."

April's eyes widen and she was about protest, but Raph beat her to it. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Having all of our enemies on the same battlefield as us? Meaning, Hun, Bishop, Stockman?! It's bad enough that we have _her _to watch out for." Raph said as he motioned to Karai. "Now we gotta fight on the battlefield with those guys? I'm sorry but that's just-"

"Raph," Leo cut in causing him to shoot a glare at him. "Master Splinter and the Ancient One maybe right. We need as much help as we can get. Besides, if we don't defeat the Shredder than everyone, good guys, bad guys, it doesn't matter; are all gonna suffer the consequences. They know as well as we do that if the Tengu Shredder isn't taken down, everyone in New York…hell, everyone in the _world_ is doomed."

"It's true. We're pretty desperate for a cavalry, and I'm sure they are too. Neither of us is really in the position to turn the other away," Don added in a tight voice. He sat on the couch next to Mikey. His fingers intertwined as his thumbs circled each other. A sure sign that he was anxious.

Raph sighed in defeat and crossed his arms. "I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. I hate it actually. But…I guess Fearless and Einstein are right. We ain't exactly in a place where we can refuse any help we can get," Raph added. "I say we do it."

"If it'll get rid of that _monster _out there, who's ruining my city, and make everything go back to normal, than I'm in too," Mikey said in agreement. Though he did not sound very enthusiastic about the matter.

"I must also agree with them. While I am no happier about it than any of you are, the Tengu Shredder must pay for how he humiliated me, and destroyed my entire army as well as my home. And I will do _whatever _it takes to get my revenge." Karai said as she clenched her fists at her side.

Casey looked at April and did not even need to say anything. He felt the same way. April sighed. She figured it would be pointless to argue for a number of reasons. One of which being her argument would not matter anyways seeing as how she was just one person, and the other one being that each of them were right. They could not afford to turn away help. They could not defeat the Tengu Shredder with only their allies. And most of all, they wanted their city back; she of course hated the idea of having to team up with more of the enemies, but again, what choice did any of them have.

"I would assume that you have feelings you like to express as well?" Ancient One asked April who shifted around in her seat a little.

April shrugged. "Nothing that hasn't already been said," She said with a small smile and a few shocked looks from everyone in the room, but no one said anything.

"So what is our plan?" Karai asked, looking at Master Splinter and the Ancient One.

"We will each divide into separate groups and meet with the ones we need to fight by us," Master Splinter responded bluntly. "Michelangelo, I wish for you and Donatello to ask the Justice Force for their aid,"

"Sweet! We get to meet up with the Justice Force! That's awesome! Maybe they'll finally give me legit spot on the team and I'll actually be allowed to sleep there instead of camping outside their headquarters every other night!" Mikey said raising his fist in the air, a large grin plastered to his face. Don just rolled his eyes and slapped Mikey in the back of head before he grabbed him his shell and dragged him tow the front door so they could leave.

Master Splinter and shook his head, but continued. "Raphael and Casey, the two of you talk with Hun and Purple Dragons."

The two exchanged large smirks with one another. "Oh no worries Master Splinter, Case and I will have no problem, "talking" the Purple Dragons into joining us. Right Case?"

"That's right Raph. By the time we're done with them, they wouldn't dreamof saying no to us." Casey agreed slamming his fist and slamming it into the open palm of his other hand. April chuckled and shook her head the two. "Good luck you two." April said to them with a smile. She looked between them; her eyes lingered on Casey for a moment.

"Will do, Babe!" Casey said to her. His electric blue eyes flickered with mischief. He stepped over to her and planted a light kiss on her kiss…or what _supposed_ to be alight kiss. Instead it became tender. "What? No kiss for me?" Raph said. The couple broke apart and Casey smiled.

"Awwww, c'mere you!" Casey said. He pulled Raph over to him and began to plant kisses on his forehead. Everyone in the room laughed as Raph shoved Casey off. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Raph exclaimed as he wiped his forehead off. He stormed out of the kitchen, with a chuckling Casey in tow. Their back and forth insults filled the apartment until they finally left.

"The Ancient One and I," Master Splinter started. He paused and motioned over to Ancient One who he was surprised to find no longer sat next to him. He raised an eyebrow and scanned the room until he found Ancient One in April's refrigerator. He had helped to himself to a Hershey bar that April had saved. Ancient One looked up at the faces that started back him and gave them a choclately grin. "Please," He said as he took another bite of the chocolate bar. "Do not let me interrupt you. Continue Splinter-san."

"Hey! That was my last one!" April protested as she stomped angrily.

Master Splinter sighed and shook his head. "The Ancient One and I will travel to meet Usagi and his dimension and ask for his aid."

Leo smiled a little, happy that Usagi could be coming back to earth. Aside from the fact that Leo knew he would be a great fighter to have on their side, he also looking forward to fighting side by side with him again. "So," Leo said, re-directed his attention to the conversation. "What can we do?"

"Leonardo, you April, and Karai, will travel to Agent Bishop. Surely with his technology, he will be very useful to us, if he decides to help." Master Splinter replied. He, April and Karai ignored the look of horror on Leo's face that came when he discovered he would be forced to bring April and Karai with him. Leo could already see himself sitting in the Battle Shell with the two, bickering back and forth. He already could not stand it whenever Mikey and Raph argued. He could not imagine the torture he would have to endure if he had to put up with two women arguing.

But he does not argue, he instead simply nods and bows before leaving.

Karai and April on the other hand did not seem as eager to leave as Leonardo had. Master Splinter, caught the glance the two exchanged, cleared his throat to earn their attention.

"I feel this is the best arrangement due to Karai's knowledge of the layout of Agent Bishop's laboratory and April's experience with Dr. Stockman's technology. Surely this will be no problem?"

Both women shook their heads in response.

"Good," Master Splinter said, pleased that he would not have to put up with arguments from the two. "You two should go and prepare. You have great tasks ahead of you."

"Yes, Master Splinter," April said with a quick bow before leaving. Karai said nothing, but gave Master Splinter a quick nod before she left the room.

"I have an extra suit in my closet, it should fit you," April said. She turned her head away in attempt to avoid eye contact with Karai.

"Thank you." Karai mumbled. The two part with no further words and Karai headed into April's room. She dug through her closet until she found a black body suit with a stripe going down either side of it. On the floor beneath it are boots to go with it. Karai set the items on the bed and began to strip off her silk pajamas. She looked her newly exposed and badly bruised skin with a scowl before she took the suit and stepped into it. She looked at her reflection in the mirrors and raised an eyebrow when she saw the suit was loose in a few areas. It was rather uncomfortable, not like the perfectly fitting, skintight suits that she is used to. She decided not to make a big deal out of it and turned away from the mirror.

As she made, her way to the door, Karai felt a sharp pain in her forehead. She was unable to bite back a whimper as she collapsed on the bed. Then, a hauntingly familiar voice spoke in her head.

"_I hope the little _message _I sent to you last night did cost you much sleep Karai"._

Karai inhaled sharply and she a chill go down her spine. "The Tengu Shredder." She whispered to herself. She searched the room for the source of the voice but found no one.

"_You will not find me in there"._ The Tengu Shredder hissed teasingly. Karai swallowed. "_I am in your mind. No one can hear me but you_."

"H-How are you doing this?" Karai stammered still looking around her, fear evident on her face.

"_We are linked, you and I". _The voice of the Tengu Shredder said in her head again.

"The Mantle…" Karai said when the realization suddenly clicked in her head. The Mantle they shared that gives her the advantage being able to drain powers.

"_Yes Karai, the Mantle. It creates a mental link between us. Allowing me violate your thoughts whenever I please. Surely you did not think the link only benefitted _you."

She winced and clutched her head, as if she could expel the voice from her mind if she squeezed tight enough. "Stop this! Get out of my head, NOW! You have _no _right to be here Tengu!" Karai snarled loudly, not caring if someone heard her.

"_Very well. I just thought you would know about your friend. The one you call…Chaplin"._

Karai froze. She began to tremble with rage and she clenched her fist tightly. "What have you done with him?!" She demanded. Her voice cracked as she spoke. There was no response from the Tengu Shredder this time.

"Answer me!" She demanded again, her voice almost a yell. Rather than a verbal response, saw images. Terrible images of Chaplin. Not the young, lively one, but the monster she had seen in her sleep last night. Paper thin skin, glowing red eyes, malicious grins.

"No! Stop this! Stop showing me these things! They are all lies! They are not true!" She hissed to herself, or rather, the demon invading her thoughts.

The door to April's room opened and a concerned looking Leo entered. Karai's wild eyes shoot over to him.

"Um…you okay?" He asked her cautiously. He looked her over and could immediately tell that she was far from okay. He noticed that she trembled. Her face was ashen and he could see tears welling in her eyes. Rather than force her into telling what the problem he just waits for her to respond to the question he already knows the answer to.

Karai swallowed hard and exhaled. She nodded her head, unable to find her voice and give a verbal response.

Leo studied her for a moment but said nothing, instead he handed her a scabbard with a single katana in it. "You're gonna need this. We can't have you defenseless where we're going." He said his voice gentle and quiet.

Karai accepted the scabbard and slung it over her back. She thanked Leo with a nod. He returned it and was about to leave she put a hand on his arm and stopped him.

"Yes?" He asked her, eyeing her warily.

"I just wanted to know," She paused and closed her eyes. She turned her head away, as she it was paining her to speak. "When you were fighting the Tengu Shredder the night you came to my aid, did you see Chaplin anywhere? Do you know if he escaped?"

Leo's face fell. The desperation and grief in Karai's voice as she spoke was enough to make anyone feel somber. Leo studied her worried face and sighed sadly as he began to understand her predicament. He shook his head no. "Last I saw of him he was fighting off some of the Tengu Shredders forces." He replied, he kept his head bowed to avoid her desolate eyes.

Karai chocked back a sob and nodded. "Thank you. That is all I wanted to know. I will join you shortly." She said quietly as she sat on the bed.

Leo looked her over with genuine sympathy and spoke. "Karai, I'm sure he-"

"Please." Karai interrupts staring at her feet. "I…I just want to be alone for a moment." She said. She feels a firm hand on her shoulder and looks over to find that it is Leo's. He does not say anything, he simply gives her a comforting squeeze before leaving the room.

Once he is gone, Karai placed her hands on her face and dragged them down. She began to massage her temples and tried to make sense of what the Tengu Shredder had told her. Chaplin was with him. He was in danger, probably already dead for all she knew.

Why him?

She moved her hands away from her face and clenched them into tight fists at her side.

Why _him_?

She continued to clench her fist tighter, her nails dug deeper into her calloused skin. She then began to bite her bottom lip.

Why _him_?!

Karai dug her further nails into her skin. With each _Why him_, her nails get deeper, her palms begged her top stop. She bowed her head and began rock back and forth on the bed, tears forming behind her tightly closed eyelids as sobs tried to escape her throat.

Finally, her nails broke through her skin and she felt warm, fresh blood trickle down her palms and settle in the skin her nails. She looked down at her palms and found four small wounds on each that oozed fresh blood. It was not until she tasted something bitter and metallic in her mouth that she realized she had also managed to open the skin on her bottom lip, causing it bleed as well.

She relaxed her body slightly and swallowed. She stood and her trembling legs almost gave out beneath her, she made her way into the bathroom. As she walked, she hugged herself tightly; either oblivious to or not caring about the bloodstains she created on the sleeves of the suit she is wearing. She turned on the water and began to rinse her hands until only milk colored lines are left on her skin. She simply licked the rest of the blood off her punctured lip.

She looked in the mirror and frowned when she saw the tired woman that started back. Her face was the color of chalk and dark circles had formed under her eyes. The past 24 hours has aged her far beyond her 26 years; and now that the Tengu Shredder had used their mental link to invade her mind and mock her, things were only going to get worse. She opened the cabinet that hid behind the mirror and searched for medicine for her headache. She found a bottle of Excedrin. She snatched from the cabinet and shut the door back.

She looked in the mirror and felt her heart stopped. She no longer saw the woman she had before, but instead the one from her nightmares. Her short, ebony hair had been reduced to a few strands of gray that clung to parts of skull. Rotted, thin flesh clung tightly to her face. She gasped in shock and her reflection did the same, revealing a toothless mouth, with a dry cracked tongue.

Karai squeezed her eyes closed and counted to ten, when she opened them again, she found that she once again stared at her own reflection. 26 years of age, aged beyond her years, and tired. She growled and unscrewed the cap off the pills before she dumped two of them into her hand and tossed them down into her mouth.

She stormed out of the bathroom as she swallowed the pills, a scowl on her face. Her mission to defeat the Tengu Shredder had just become more important than ever, as well as much more personal.

* * *

From outside April waited impatiently. She tapped her foot rapidly as she fiddled with her _Tessen_, she leaned against the back of the couch and twirled the closed fan in her hand. Occasionally, she glanced up her bedroom and scowled.

"_What _is taking her so long in there? How hard could it possible to get into a suit?" She asked Leo. Leo looked over at her and grinned.

"Maybe she's having a little trouble getting it on. She might be trying to find some clothespins so that it'll fit her better." Leo replied teasingly.

April narrowed her eyes and slapped in his arm. "Oh shut up! It fits her perfectly fine! I'm just as lean and toned as she is."

"I dunno April; you've been packing away quite a few brownies lately." Leo continued in a serious tone as he tried to hold back a laugh.

April opened her mouth to retort but at that very moment the door opened and Karai entered the room. Her eyes, puffy and red. She kept her head low and stormed past Leo and April.

April looked to Leo with an eyebrow raised. He mouthed, "Tell you later." She nodded and looked over at Karai with concerned curiosity. Karai paused at the door and spoke but did not turn to face either of them. "Are you waiting for an invitation?" She spat out bitterly.

April pressed her tongue against her gum in irritation but said nothing. She folded her _Tessen _and slid them into her belt. She and Leo exchanged glances and nodded before leaving the living room and following Karai who is making her way out through the Antique Shop.

She had just stepped outside when she heard him said in a malice, shrewd tone. Sending a shiver down her spine.

"_He will not last much longer."_

Karai winced but ignored the voice. Once Leo and April were outside, they all made the silent agreement to make their leave.

As they made their way to the Battle Shell, Karai spoke to no one of her issues with the Tengu Shredder. Instead, she told herself the unconvincing lie that it none of it was true.


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: TMNT is not mine. I own nothing.**

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The inside of the Battle Shell was silent as Leo, Karai and April made their way to Bishop's headquarters. They had each busied themselves with their own tasks. Leo drove the battle shell and would occasionally take his eyes off the road and glance between April and Karai to make sure neither one of them had strangled the other.

While he was relieved that they did not do so much as glance at each other he could not help but be worried that they were only silent because they were busy plotting ideas of how to get rid of each other for good. He asked himself over and over again why Master Splinter had to pair him with the two of them. The awkward silence and the boomerang thoughts of them suddenly getting into a fight kept the blue-banded turtle anxious. He looked over at April and found her the same way she had been for the entire ride. She still typed away on the laptop she kept in the battle shell for missions such as this one. She had headphones plugged into her ears that connected to the laptop. Barely audible music played from them as she stared at the screen like it was a jigsaw puzzle. She always did work better when music played. She paid no mind to Karai.

Leo's eyes shifted to look through the review mirror so he could see Karai who was still silent. She sat in the back seat slumped against the door and gazed through the tinted window. Leo knew something was wrong. He had been concerned about her ever since his encounter with her back at April's apartment. Everything about that conversation had been stuck in his head. How miserable she sounded, how she was so obviously worried about Chaplin, how hopeless she had seemed. Because she was their enemy he felt foolish because he sympathized for her, but at the same time; he felt he would have been heartless if he did not.

"Leo!"

Leo pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked up just in time to swerve out of the way of a vacant taxi cab. He jerked the steering wheel to the left and the tires screeched loudly as the battle shell turned sharply. April yelped as the laptop slipped off her lap. Had it not been for them wearing seatbelts, April and Karai would have been thrown from their seats. Once the battle shell resumed a steady course, Leo laughed nervously.

"Sorry about that, you two alright?" He asked as he glanced at them briefly. April narrowed her eyes at Leo and sat at back up in her seat. She gathered her laptop off the floor and set it back in her lap. As she plugged her headphones back into her ears she made sure to give Leo one final glare.

Karai just rolled her eyes and sat back in her seat. She massaged her temples and sighed silently. She did not know why but she found herself with her arms crossed as she watched April intently. The woman did not seem to notice. Her jade eyes were glued to her screen as she continued to hack her way into Bishop's security system. She mindlessly chewed on her bottom lip in concentration. Her milk colored fingers continued to fly across the keys. She tucked a displaced strand of her fire truck red hair behind her ear.

Karai felt her heart sink and she tore her eyes away from April with a shaky breath. She questioned herself, and asked why she had taken such a sudden interest in April but she already knew the answer. April at the moment looked so much…no, _too _much like Chaplin right now.

The bright red hair, the emerald colored eyes. The way she was so focused on her work at the moment, almost as if she was in her own her world. The exact same way Chaplin had always been when he was around any form of technology. She smiled a little at the memory of how he was always so energetic and enthusiastic about everything he did. With his attitude, Chaplin stuck out in the foot headquarters the way a panther would have in the South Pole.

She glanced up at April again just in time to watch as she tucked another strand of hair behind her ear. Her eyes squinted at the screen before they widened. She pursed her lips and looked up from her laptop. "Okay," She started. It was obvious from the grim tone in her voice that she something was wrong.

"What is it, April?" Leo asked. Not wanting to repeat the incident form earlier, Leo kept his eyes on the road ahead of him, but still focused mainly on April.

"Alright, I have bad news and I have horrible news. What do you guys want first?" She asked with worry evident in her voice. She glanced back at Karai and caught the woman staring at her with a reminiscent, yet painful look in her eyes. April creased her eyebrows at her but before she could say anything regarding the subject, Karai regained her composure and spoke. "What seems to be the problem?" She asked as she undid her seat belt and made her way to the front of the battle shell to get a better view of April's screen.

"Quite a few things." April continued as she continued to stare at Karai. She finally tore her eyes away from her and returned them to the green. "I'll give you the bad news first. Well I managed to hack into Bishop's base but…" April trailed off and turned the laptop towards Leo and Karai. "See for yourselves."

Leo stopped the Battle Shell in the middle of the road so he could take his eyes away from the road without nearly causing a crash again. He gazed at the screen and what he recognized as a schematics for Bishop's building. He only identified them as that because he had seen so many over the years when every Donnie would show them to the others before they went on a mission. That was back things were what he and his family would consider, "normal" during this time.

He noticed that on the screen were several dozen blinking red dots. Some were stationary, others were rapidly moving around the different floors of the building. At first nothing seemed strange about them, but then he noticed that many of them were disappearing. They would blink several times, vanish from the screen and never then return. The number of dots was quickly depleting. Leo and Karai look on and off before several times before they would blink off and never return to the screen. Karai and Leo looked away from the screen and turned April for answers, because neither of them had any idea what they were looking at.

"Bishop keeps a tab on all of his flunkies in the base. This way he's able to see where they are at all times and their health status. Everyone who is in the base is represented by these red dots. If the dots are solid, then that means the wearers health status is normal, if they blink it means they're injured. The faster they blink, the more critical the injury is and if they stop blinking all together, their dead." April looked between Leo and Karai and turned the laptop screen back to her. "It looks as if the majority of his base is either injured or dead. The base may be under attack or something." She continued.

"Okay, so the bad news is that the base in under attack." Leo confirmed with a sigh. "Wonderful. And the horrible news?"

"Whatever it is, there's a lot of them and they're taking out the guys Bishops very quickly. If we don't get there soon, there won't be anyone left for us to ask for help." April said. She turned back to the screen and watched as several more of the red dots vanished from the screen.

"Do you believe you can find out who it is?" Karai asked April, her eyes averted from her when she spoke. April pondered the question for a moment before her fingers returned to the keyboard. She stared intently at the screen and typed. A few moments later, the image on the screen changed and was replaced by what appeared to be what a security camera viewed.

It was a black and white but very sharp view of a hallway in the base. A hallway that had erupted in complete chaos. The walls were smeared with was easily identified as blood, even without seeing any color in the picture.

On the screen was an injured man dressed in a black jumpsuit and helmet. He was armed only with a large gun and was surrounded by fallen his comrades. He pushing himself backwards with his right leg due to the left one being broken. The material on the jumpsuit as well as the skin under it, had been ripped open by a protruding bone. The bone had broken away from the skeleton and was sticking out of the skin and slightly slanted. The man shot at something off screen. Whatever it was he shot at was obviously resilient. He continued to scoot backwards until his back hit a wall. He shot the gun again and his mouth, the only part of his face that was exposed due to the large helmet he wore on his head, parted. He shot again, and again,and again. He frowned and at the gun and his lip trembled. He looked back up and his mouth opened in an unheard scream as he raised his arm in front of him in an attempt to protect himself from his adversary. When his enemy appeared on screen, it became obvious that his arm would do him no good.

The beast was stocky and stood on two legs and towered loomed several feet over the man and blocked any view of him with the exception of the broken leg that stuck out between the monster's parted legs. It had skin that appeared to be scaly. A single horn stuck out from the top of his head and looked sharp enough to draw blood even with the slightest contact with flesh. Its arms hung disturbing low. The creatures' knuckles were only a few inches above the floor. Long, talons protruded from the three fingers that were on each hand. In one hand was a large spiked club. He raised his hand slowly and moments later, it was bought back down on the man in the corner.

Everyone held his or her breath as the club was bought down on the man and fresh blood splattered onto the wall. The exposed broke leg began to twitch uncontrollably. The beast raised the spiked club again and bought it down again. It repeated this process until the twitching leg finally ceased to move altogether. It walked away from the man and Leo quickly turned April's head away from the screen just in time to block her view of the mutilated body.

The creature turned around and revealed its horrible face, or at least it would have if it had one. Instead, of having eyes a nose and ears, there was only one, enormous mouth that revealed a row of dagger like teeth. He looked directly into the camera and its mouth opened even wider as if as he had decided to celebrate the recent slaughter of the man with a ferocious roar.

The entire thing had been like a silent horror movie since there was no audio to the video. Leo closed the laptop in April's lap in silence. He swallowed bile that threatened to escape his mouth. Karai closed her eyes and turned her head away. Leo pulled April away and examined her pale face. It was not her normal ivory complexion, but was instead ashen and frozen in a look of horror. He placed a hand on her shoulder before he leaned away and sat back in the driver's seat. He restarted the battle shell and rested his head on the steering wheel. His grip tightened around the steering wheel and a heavy sigh escaped his beak. He sat back up and put pressure on the gas pedal. The silence from before had returned to the battle shell as they finished the last portion of their journey to Bishop's lab. Everyone was busy thinking of the fate the faceless man had suffered and none of them were very eager to see what else was in store for them.

By the time they reached Bishop's base, things had obviously gotten much worse. The sound of rapid fire came from the inside of the building. Windows had been shattered and motionless bodies hung halfway out of them. On the ground were the crumpled bodies of those who were either thrown from the building, or decided it would better to lose their lives to the dangerous fall than it would have been to face the merciless wrath of the monsters who were rampaging through the building.

"Oh, man this bad." Leo said lowly as he reached for Gunshin. He watched as one man tried to jump out of a window but before he could, a scaly arm grabbed him and yanked him back inside. Moments his headless was tossed out of the window and onto the ground below.

"What was your first clue?" April asked with weak sarcasm in her voice. Karai opened the door in the back of the battle shell and drew her katana. "Enough of this pointless rambling! We must act _now_ if we are going to secure the base in time." She glanced at April and watched as she took her fans out. She narrowed her eyes. She turned to Leo and said, "We are not bringing _her _with us are we?" She looked back at April who shot her an icy stare. She was about to open her mouth to respond but Leo stopped her. "She's right April, it's probably best that you stay here where you'll be safe."

"What are you talking about?! The entire point of me being assigned to go on this mission was so that I could _help_ you guys! Not sit in her and be useless!" She shot back at him. Even though she was outraged at the moment, part of her knew that Leo and Karai were right. She had only had five years of ninjitsu training. She was definitely no novice, but she was also no master. Karai and Leo put together probably had about 30 years of experience on her and even _they _looked worried about heading into the bloody fray. But rather than listen her more sensible side she decided that she was much rather argue.

"Yeah April, that was before we found this place was under attack by who _knows _how many Tengu warriors. I've spent 18 years of my life training in ninjitsu and the past month or so learning how to defeat these things and I'm still worried about my chances. It's because of that, that you need to stay here for your safety." Leo continued in his famous, authoritative leader voice.

"It's also because of that reason that you need all the help you can get. Besides, you think I'll be safer if you can keep an eye on me or if I'm stranded in the battle shell surrounded by demon warriors?" April added in an even tone. Leo's eyes narrowed into white slits. He wanted to argue so very badly. He hung his head and sighed. "_Fine_. But be _careful_. Casey will have my head on a pike if anything happens to you."

"He would actually prefer it above the fireplace between that guy from the movie theatre who would always check me out and my ex-boyfriend who would never stop calling." April said as she undid her seatbelt. Leo gave her a small smile he was not able to repress.

Karai looked between the two and groaned. "If you two are finished, I believe we have a job to do!" She snapped. Her hand was clenched tightly around the hilt of her katana and her eyes flickered with eagerness to fight.

Leo gave April one last look. "Stay _close_ and don't engage in battle if _I _say so; do you understand?"

"You do know, I'm like nine years older than you right? It always seems you forget that whenever you start bossing me around." April replied with a grin as she began to exit the battle shell.

Leo glared after her before he climbed out followed by Karai. The trio made their way over the entrance of the base. They cautiously stepped over lifeless bodies as they made their way to the large metal doors. They did their best to repress gags from the strong and very foul odor of blood. The blood had poured from many gory wounds and created vast seas of the stuff on the ground. April almost lost her breakfast when she saw man's torso lying on the ground with a gaping crater in the middle of it from which organs and blood spilled onto the ground. She shuddered and turned away. She kept her eyes trained to the back of Leo's skull; she only looked down when she was told to watch her step.

As the three got closer to the entrance, the sounds from inside grew more chilling and blood curdling. There were monstrous howls, horrified screams, louds thuds, gushing. April felt like one of the dumb blondes from horror movies she always teased when they were in situations similar to hers. Cautiously making her way to what would probably be her doom. She always teased those girls, she would laugh at them and how scared and helpless they looked. She would joke about how had she been in that place, she would be courageous and prepared for anything; but at the moment, she wanted nothing more than to go home, crawl into bed, hide under her covers and wait for this nightmare to be over.

When they finally reached the door, April immediately went to work on the lock. Within seconds she was prepared to open the door. Her fingers hovered over the last wire she needed to pull to gain them entrance. She glanced up at Leo and Karai and silently asked if they were ready to answer. In response they both took fighting stance and placed their blades in front of them. Leo turned to April and gave her a curt nod. She returned and clipped the last wire. Not even a second after she had done that she jumped back and drew her _Tessen_, she flicked her wrist to expose the many blades on each fan and took her own stance next Karai.

"Be sure to stay out of my way." Karai whispered to her. She spoke in a stone cold voice and kept her eyes focused on the door.

Before April can respond, the door hissed and opened.

Leo barely had enough time to tackle Karai and April to ground, when a large battle ax is swung over them. Rather than decapitating the tree of them, the blade of the ax is lodged into the steel frame of the of the door. The ax is once again raised above them, prepared to finish them for good.

"Scatter!" Leo yelled. He pushed April and Karai away from him before dove out of the way of the next blow. He is finally able to get a good look at the ax's owner. He realized favored creature that he saw on the security camera. Except it was much more grotesque in person.

It smelled of rotted raw meat and fresh blood. Smells that were horrible enough on their own, but combined they made for such a horrible stench that Leo's eyes stung behind his mask. He failed to suppress a gag. He was at least better off than April who had just heaved the breakfast she ate that morning, as well as the dinner she at the night before onto the ground.

It had to be at _least _eight feet tall. It had a long thick tail, which levitated a few feet above the ground. It had a tail that was spiked and at the end was what looked a small mace. Where a complete face should have been, there was only a large mouth with sharp teeth and disturbing long tongue. Its flaking skin was the color of rich soil; a cool, dark brown. It glistened a little in what limited sunlight there was and Leo noticed it dripped with fresh blood…or was it slime, or perhaps a sick mixture of both. Leo swallowed the bile in his throat and stood to his feet, still repulsed by the demon's scent.

Karai on the other hand seemed fine. Her nose was wrinkled in disgust but she was at least able to keep her composure. She flipped her sword around in the air few times and charged.

As she raced towards the beast, she felt the best she had even felt since her fight with the Tengu Shredder. She did not know how much she missed being in combat. After spending so much of her time either unconscious or losing a battle, a bloody fight was just what she needed. It felt as if she moved in both slow motion and hyper speed. The adrenaline that pumped through her left her immune to the growing strength of the demon's stench as she got closer and closer to the monster.

When she was a few feet away she leapt into the air with her sword raised. Her plan was simple. Charge at the monster, leap into the air, and plunge her sword into its brain. It would have worked had the monster not have had a different plan. Before she could strike, the beast swatted her backwards into the wall with a simple movement of his hand. Karai hit the wall and every last ounce of breath was knocked of her. She fell to the ground dazed and weakly got her feet. She looked up and found an ax raised above her head. The beast wailed before it the ax began to descend. Karai waited for the final blow to come but it never did, instead she felt herself get yanked backwards seconds before the ax could make contact with her. She landed on the ground and found a cord wrapped her waist. She followed the cord to find April a few away from her with what looked like a gun in her hand. She pulled a trigger and the cord retracted into the gun before April slid it back into a pouch around her belt. She exchanged it for her _Tessen_ and took a stance as the creature howled in frustration at its loss kill.

It turned in their direction and howled again before it charged. Rather than run towards them, it used its longed arms to move in a fashion similar to and orangutans; it's stubby legs hovered above the ground as it used its arms to hobble forward.

Leo appeared between them and frowned at the monster it came towards them.

"Any ideas on how to defeat this thing boss man?!" April asked. She ducked to avoid a swipe from the monsters claws that surely would have taken her head off had she not moved. She maneuvered behind it and began to slash at its back with the blades on her _Tessen_. Black blood formed rivers down its back.

"_Me_?!" Leo shot back as began to slash at the monster's chest. "_You're _the one who's nine years older than me. _You_ come up with something!" He swung Gunshin at the monster's head but his blade was seized in mid-air. The beast lifted him into air and tossed him, as well Gunshin aside effortlessly. He got up moments later and brushed the attack off he charged in again.

April continued to slash at the monster every chance she had. It would swipe and swipe at her but missed each time. She thanked her agility and nimbleness for that. She continued to attack and had been doing a pretty decent job of it until a loud ringing in her ear caught her off guard. Distracted by the noise, she hesitated for a split-second before her next attack and the monster immediately took the opportunity to strike. It pushed itself up on its arms and used both suspended feet to deliver a kick to her upper body. She flew backwards and landed on the ground roughly. She felt something snap in her wrist and floodgates of agony burst open in her hand. She hissed in pain and clutched her right wrist tightly. She realized that the ringing in her ears was her communicator and pushed a button with her non-injured hand.

"Yeah?" She breathed into the communicator.

"April? Babe, are you okay? Why do you sound hurt? Did you guys show up late to the part too?"

April rolled her eyes and groaned. The last thing she needed was Casey knowing she was hurt. Luckily it was only her wrist so it was not very hard to suppress the pain in her voice.

"I'm fine Casey, everything…wait, what do you mean did we show up late to the party _too_." She responded. She glanced up to check on Karai and Leo. They still fought, but were on the verge of defeat.

"Raph and I got here and found that some of the purple dragon scum had already been taken out. We're getting our asses handed to us right now, how are things goin on your side?" Casey said. It was obvious he was tired. His breathing was heavy as he spoke and April could hear Hun in the background as he shouted orders to whatever purple dragons were still had a pulse.

"Not very well to say the least. Bishop's base is under attack too. A lot of his men were taken out." April said as she got to her feet. She looked around for her _Tessen_ and found them a few feet in front of her. She did not know well she would fare in combat with her injured wrist, but intended to find out. "Look Casey, I'm kind of in the middle of something right now. We'll talk later okay."

There was hesitation on the end before answered and April's heart skipped a beat as she feared the worst had happened. She heard him sigh and relief rushed through her.

"Fine just…just be careful over there babe. " He said. The gentle tone in his voice bought a small smile to April's face. "I will, you do the same okay? Make sure Raph does too." She heard the creature wail again and looked up to find Karai and Leo on the ground. Their swords were out of their reach and they both looked dazed. "Casey, I _really _have to go okay. I love you."

"Love you- _ALRIGHT _ RAPH, I'M COMING! GEESH CAN'T A GUY GET SOMETIME TO BE TO BE ROMANTIC? I AM TRYING TO HAVE A _MOMENT_ HERE! OH YEAH?! WELL I BET YOURS IS EVEN _SMALLER!" _

And with that, the line went dead. April smiled and shook her head. She watched as the monster stalked closer to them, it moved slowly as if it knew it could take its time.

April knew her she would not make it to them in time, and even if she did there would not be much she could do except end up in the same position as them. She looked around for some way to help them and her eyes fell upon yet another one of Bishop's fallen soldiers. He as not mutilated like many of the others so he must have fallen from the building or jumped. In his hands was a large gun. April rushed over to him and tried to take the gun but his cold, dead hands refused to part with it. April finally had to resort to uncurling each finger from around the handle. She apologized to the corpse when she finally freed the gun from his grasp. The weapon felt odd and out of place in hands, she had never shot before.

"Well if my life has taught me anything, it's that there's a first time for everything." April said to herself. She aimed the gun at the monster but held it an awkward position. She exhaled and pulled the trigger. The force knocked her off her feet yet again as a red laser shot out from the gun and hit the monster in its arm.

Immediately it turned to April and roared. It forgot all about Leo and Karai and instead charged at her. April shot again but seemed to do no damage outside of annoying the creature even further. Within seconds, it reached her and she found herself trapped in the demon's large hand with her back pressed against the old steel wall. Its mouth snarled, revealing its many rows of teeth. April expected her death to be gory like the ones Bishop's soldiers had suffered. She thought she would be sliced in half by its double-ended ax, ripped apart by the demon's teeth, bludgeoned by the mace at the end of its tail. She did not like any of her options of how she would die. But rather than do any of those, the demon yanked her forward and snarled at her again, before it slammed her back into the wall again. It pulled her forward again and she was slightly limp this time, it repeated the same action from before and slammed her back into the wall. The beast was relentless. It continued to slam her into the wall repeatedly. Her skull and spine begged for mercy but received no such luxury when she was once again pulled forward, and slammed back yet again. At this point, April's bones had become jelly like and she was flaccid in her captors tight grip. He pulled her forward and again and was about to slam her into the wall for she was sure would be the last time before her light burned out completely.

From a distance Leo had begun regain his composure and looked up see April in the monster's hand, as he repeatedly slammed her into the steel wall. Leo knew better than to hope she was last long. Had it have been one of his brothers he would have had more hope but compared to them April was much weaker. She was built for agility and speed, not strength and durability and would not last much longer if this continued.

Leo snarled and grabbed Gunshin. He was not sure what it was that flowed through him when he felt himself become immensely more powerful as he tapped into his chi; rage, determination, heroism, fear; but whatever it was, it gave him the push he needed. Patterns of a light blue color that matched his mask appeared all over his skin. Karai watched in amazement as they began glow brighter and brighter. He aimed Gunshin at the demon and the sword began to glow as Leo shared some of the power that coursed through him with his blade. Seconds later, a beam of blue energy erupted from the tip of Leo's deadly steel and charged at the demon.

The demon turned its attention away from April and had enough time to release the first part of a horrified screech as the beam connected with it.

The good news, it released April immediately.

The bad news, she fell and her head bounced off the ground before her body became still.

The beam continued to attack the demon. It got brighter and more powerful which caused the beast to howl in pain. Tiny rays of the beam began to appear on the creatures back.

From where he stood, Leo gritted his teeth and took a step closer. He willed the shaft of power that erupted from his blade to become more powerful and more small rays appeared on the demon's back. They continued to appear until the beam broke through the flesh completely. The demons howls ceased and the beam began to die down. Once it was a gone, a large hole was in the middle of the demon's torso. It lay on the ground motionless, its skin charred and black. It smelled much worse than before, but because it was no longer trying to kill them no one complained.

Leo swayed slightly and would have tipped over had Karai not steadied him. It always baffled him how an attack so powerful could leave him so weak. He felt as if he had not slept in weeks and every last one of his muscles were sore. He wanted to just collapse onto the ground and close his heavy eyelids. He almost did, but he looked up and saw April who still had not moved.

"No." He breathed. He pushed away from Karai without any word of thanks to her and scraped what little energy he had left together and sprinted over to April. Karai did not mind, in fact she did the same thing. She admitted to herself that was a little concerned, April had saved her life and maintained the decency to not mock her about it. Karai found Leo on ground with April's head cradled in his arm. He brushed a few displaced strands away to reveal her dazed face.

"April? April, can you hear me." He asked her. He placed a hand under her neck to check her pulse and was relieved to find one. It weaker and slower than it should have been but it was a pulse. He asked again if she could hear him, but she only groaned and her head rolled off to the side.

Leo exhaled and slapped his forehead with his freehand. "Casey's gonna kill me." He groaned into his palm.

"Then why don't I take that burden off his hands?"

Leo froze at the sound of the cold, gravelly voice. He tore his gaze away from April and looked up to find himself, Karai and April surrounded by Bishop's soldiers.

Leo wanted to back away but only found the steel wall. Bishop and his men had formed a tight semi-circle around the three of them and all of them were in the position to shoot. Leo was fast but he, nor Karai even with all of their ninja training, could move faster than a bullet bullet.

"Take'em out!" Bishop barked.

The puppets obeyed their master and their hands moved to the triggers. Karai shot Leo a panicked look as she backed into the wall. Moments before they guns were fired Leo spoke.

"Wait! We did _not _come to harm you! We came to offer you a temporary truce. A truce that would help you take down the one behind the attack on your base." Leo said as sternly as he could in his current exhausted state.

Bishop's men did not look fazed and were still going to shoot, but Bishop held up a hand and stopped them. He looked around him at the mass graveyard that formed in front of his base. He looked back and Leo and peaked an eyebrow before he spoke.

"I'm listening."


	5. Chapter 4

**(A/N): Yes! I am indeed still alive. XD Sorry about the late post but between writers block and homework I just haven't the time to write. I hope the long chapter makes up for it though! Thanks to all of my reviewers so far, you guys are awesome! Please enjoy! And please, tell me about any mistakes I'll fix them right away. ;-)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. All TMNT characters are not my property. **

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Leo had begun to reconsider his words from earlier. When he was in April's apartment and it was announced that they would have to reach out to enemies to have a chance fighting the Tengu Shredder, he told himself that it would be nothing to worry about and that it would be a small price to pay if it meant saving the city. But as he followed Agent Bishop to his office that feeling had vanished and was instead replaced with anxiety and worry. Nothing about the situation he was in could be described as good. He and Karai were marched down a long hallway with guns pointed at the back of their skulls. A still unconscious April was slung of the shoulder of one of Bishop's lackeys like a sack of flour. A perfect bargaining chip if Bishop decided he wanted thing absurd in exchange for his aid in the fight against the Tengu Shredder. Had April been conscious at the moment, he's positive she would have gladly said, "I told you so".

He could not fight back against any them. The attack he made on the demon to save April left him very weak. He was exhausted and his legs ached with each step he took. He breathing was heavy and his face as beaded with sweat. Karai was in no better state than he was. She did not struggle against the iron grip her captors held her in, mainly because she did not have the strength to, either. The only bright side to the situation was that they were safe from the monsters that invaded the base. Bishop had taken them to a secure, underground hangar that appeared to be free of any blood-thirsty demons.

Karai gave Leo a sideways and in a barely audible voice muttered, "I do not trust him."

Leo snorted and laughed darkly. "And you think I do?"

"Quite back there, you two!" Bishop snapped at them. They had reached the end of the hallway and were standing behind a steel door. Bishop typed in a few things on the control panel and the door opened. He entered the room and sat down behind a large desk. He folded his arms on the table and motioned for Leo and Karai to sit in in the two chairs in front him. They were forced into obeying him when they were shoved into the chairs and held down by firm grips on their shoulders. Neither of them had the strength or stamina to resist.

The soldier that carried April entered and carelessly dropped on the floor. She grunted and her slumbering face contorted a little in pain before she became still and silent again.

"Be careful with her!" Leo said; his voice a menacing hiss that rivaled even the deadliest of snakes.

"You are in no place to be giving anyone orders around here Leonardo. Especially given the current position you are in." He glanced over at April and sneered evilly. "She could be dead right now. And if I feel that you are wasting my time with this "truce" talk, then in the next ten minutes she probably will be." Bishop said from behind his desk. His face was absent of any emotion.

Leo's eye twitched and he snarled. "You aren't going to _touch _her!" He said through his clenched teeth.

Bishop ignored him and turned turned to Karai to give her a lopsided smile. "Ms. Oroku, how pleasant it is to see you again. Last time I saw you here you were a helpless prisoner. Such a shame your father did not stay on this planet long enough to teach you how make a surprise trip to my headquarters without getting captured." He eyed her and laughed a little. Karai attempted to lunge at him but was forced back into her seat by two guards. She settled for simply giving him a hate filled glare.

Satisfied that he had managed to agitate both of them, Bishop sat back in his leather chair and crossed his arms. "So please, tell me more about this truce you were talking about."

"I am not sure that I want it anymore." Karai muttered to the floor. Bishop ignored her and kept his eyes on Leo as he waited for an answer.

"It's a _very _long story. The point is, you need our help and we need yours." Leo replied sternly.

"The three of you won't be going anywhere for a while and I haven't heard a good story in quite some time now." Bishop said as he leaned back in his chair. Leo rolled his eyes behind his mask and sighed. He told Bishop everything starting from the night he and brothers were bought to the ninjas Ninja Tribunal. Bishop did not interrupt the entire time. Instead, he sat back and listened intently. Once Leo was done, Bishop was silent and had a thoughtful look on his face.

"You must be pretty desperate coming here and asking for my help, Leonardo." He finally said.

"From the looks of it you aren't doing very well on your own either. This will benefit both of us Bishop. You don't want to help us, then fine that's our loss. But remember, it's your loss to." Leo replied.

"You would be a fool to reject our offer Agent Bishop." Karai hissed. "The Tengu Shredder will bring nothing but destruction to everyone. Just because you are as evil as he is does _not_ make you an exception."

Bishop pursed his lips and thought for a moment. "If I help you, my only condition is that you treat me as you would any other ally. You will not question me or anything I do and you will not argue with anything I say. Is that understood?"

Leo and Karai exchanged glances that asked the other rather or not they should trust him. Bishop noticed and stood up and began to walk over to the door. "Take all the time you need to think." He opened the door and stepped out without another word to Leo or Karai. Once he gone, Leo released a heavy sigh.

"So what should we do? Surely you do not trust him." Karai asked as she eyed the ground.

"I don't." Leo admitted. "But we didn't come all this way and get attacked to by a demon just to tell Bishop that we don't trust him. We have no choice _but_ to accept his offer." Leo admitted in a grim tone. He glanced over at April who had yet to move since being dumped on the floor. He mentally screamed at her and told her to wake up, move, groan, _something_; but instead she only stayed still.

"I suppose you are right." Karai said with a sigh.

"Call him back in here and tell him out decision?" Leo offered as he glanced at the door.

Karai snorted. "Why should we? He has been listning in on us the entire time with the audio surveillance device he put on the desk when he walked out." Karai said bluntly as she motioned with her head over to Bishop's desk. To prove she was right, Bishop entered with a large grin on his face. "Nice work, Karai. I take it you to have had enough time to discuss this matter." He said innocently.

Leo narrowed his eye ridge and growled. "I don't have time for your games, Bishop. Are you with us or not?" Leo demanded as he gave Bishop what was supposed to be an intimidating glare, but due to him being so fatigue, it instead resembled the look his face wore whenever Mikey woke him at three o'clock in the morning by playing video games with the volume turned up as high as it can go.

Bishop reached into his belt and pulled out a large hunting knife. He twirled it in his hands for a few moments before he lifted it above Leo's head. Leo turned away and squeezed his eyes shut as the knife was bought down as he waited for the deadly blow that was bound to come, but never arrived. Instead, he felt blood resume its normal cycle and flow into his hands as his bonds were cut. He eyed Bishop and rubbed his sore wrists as Karai was cut free. Bishop retrieved their weapons from the soldier who confiscated them and handed them to Leo and Karai.

"I'm with you." Bishop confirmed. He almost sounded kind for a moment and when that dawned on him, his face hardened and looked at Leo and said in a vicious growl, "Just don't get used to it. Because once this is over, everything is going back to the way it was before. If anyone is going to get rid of you freaks for good, it's gonna be _me_. You hear me?"

Leo rubbed his raw wrists and gave Bishop a sideways look. "Loud and Clear." He said. He continued to give Bishop a cautious look when there weak moan from the other side of the room. Leo turned to see a sight that caused all of the weariness that filled him to be cast out of him by feelings joy and relief.

April moaned again and blinked her eyes several times before she finally got them open. At first she saw nothing but the dark, blurry outline of those standing around her. She pushed herself into a sitting position with her hands, and the moment she did her brain did summersaults in her aching skull and she instead slumped against the wall.

Karai, much to her surprise, released a sigh of relief when April managed regain consciousness. Their eyes met and she looked away to hide the grief on her face. It still pained her to look into those emerald orbs. They belonged to April but still reminded her so much of Chaplin. The moment his name crossed her mind all of the Tengu's haunting words and nightmares returned to her and she involuntarily shivered as the images flashed through her mind.

Leo appeared by April's side and helped to pull her to her feet. She swayed slightly when she stood and Leo slung her arm over his shoulder to support her.

April thanked him and decided she wanted take in her surroundings. She noticed that they were no longer outside the base and were instead inside of a small and blandly decorated office. Her eyes scanned the dull gray walls absent of any decorations until they finally landed on Bishop and narrowed into slits.

"Don't worry," Leo assured when he noticed her staring. "We got him on our side."

April nodded but looked far from convinced as she continued to look Bishop over with a cautious eye. "Come on, we should get back home." Leo said as he shifted April's weight on his shoulder. He turned his back and began to leave, expecting to be shot in the moment he turned around but was surprised when managed to take a few steps towards the door without Bishop killing him.

Bishop sensed his discomfort and sighed. "There is no need for you to worry Leonardo. When I make a promise I keep it."

Leo only regarded him with a simple nod and left the room. The moment they stepped out of the room, Karai huffed.

"Surely you do not expect him to keep his word simply because he said he would! At any moment he could betray us." She hissed as she turned behind her to glare at the door. No one replied as they continued to make their way down the hall. They all knew that Karai was right, the possibility that Bishop could not be trusted was much more likely than the possibility that he could be. The only thing they could to confirm whether or not they right or wrong, was wait.

The next few minutes were silent as they exited the underground hanger. They were led back to the outside of the base where they attacked when they first arrived. The battle shell was a few meters away from them. Leo smiled in relief at the sight of the bulky vehicle that take him back to April's apartment where he would finally get some rest. Once at the Battle Shell, Leo quickly helped April inside through the back. She did not hesitate to collapse into a chair and release a heavy breath. A strand of hair fell in her face and as she brushed it away, she noticed something very off setting about it. It was gray.

She plucked the silver strand from her hair and examined with a grimace. She waved it in front of Leo's face and snarled at him. "See what you and your crazy life are doing to me!" She hissed as she angrily tossed the strand at him. Leo's eyes followed the strand to the floor of the Battle Shell and laughed as he shook his head. "Don't worry, you won't miss that one very much. I'm sure there are plenty more where that came from." He said teasingly. He winked at her and closed the door just as she began to mimic him in a childish manor. He circled the Battle Shell and was about to climb in himself but stopped when he found Karai still outside.

She stood as still as stone and stared at the ground with alert as if was expecting something horrible were about to happen. He cautiously approached her and tapped her on her shoulder. She nearly jumped out of skin when he touched her. She looked up at him with a grimace on her face before she turned away and drew her katana.

"Prepare yourself." Was as all she said. It was all she has time to saw. Before she could saw anything else or Leonardo could question her cryptic behavior, a bump appeared in the earth.

Leo stared at it questioningly as the bump appeared to pulsate; another part of the ground began to do the same thing, as did another until Leo and Karai were trapped in a semi-circle as mounds of earth around them continued throb.

From inside the Battle Shell, April rapped on the grass to get Leo's attention. He turned to find her expression puzzled as she gazed at him from the inside off the Battle Shell. She looked past him and her expression contorted into horror. She yelled something. It was hard to understand her muffled voice from inside the Battle Shell.

"She said, behind you!" Karai snapped at him from at his side.

He barely turned around in time to dodge a blade swung at his head. He dove out the way and tumbled in a rather non-ninja like fashion onto his plastron. The owner of the sword was a skeleton clad in heavy armor that caused its muscle free form sag under its weight. There were several more just like it, and if this day continued to not work in Leo's favor several more would come. Some were made of dry, bleached bone that had been picked clean, others still had a rotted layer of flesh that clung to them. They all growled and moaned as they closed in around Leo and Karai, which was strange since none of them had any of the internal organs that were necessary for speech.

Leo sighed as he once again sheathed Gunshin. He was still exhausted from his attack on the monster from earlier and had no desire or strength to fight again. He looked back at April who watched in horror from inside the Battle Shell. He gave a firm look which she easily translated into him telling her to stay inside.

"I'm really starting to hate how downhill this day is going." Leo complained aloud as he took a fighting stance. Next to him, Karai gritted her teeth and drew her katana.

"You and I both." Karai agreed. She swung at the skeleton closet to her. She caught it off guard and managed to slice off its skull. Much to her disappointment though, rather than fall to the ground defeated as she hoped it would, its headless body only swung again and made a small cut in her shoulder blade, it began to bleed but Karai was able to ignore the pain. She had after all, endured far worse.

She growled and continued to slice in her opponent's direction incessantly, but each time the only thing she managed to do any damage to was the thin air. She continued to push forward, each strike being more powerful than the last as her blade grew impatient and frustrated because it had yet to taste victory. The next time she swung her steel at the warrior there blades interlocked and she was surprised to find herself struggling as she tried to match the strength of the katana-wielding skeleton warrior. Her knees began to tremble as she was forced to lean backwards under the pressure of the demon's strength. She heard Leo shout her name in concern, before s the sound of his metal clashing against others. He heard him shout a brief order at April, telling to stay in the Battle Shell before his voice drowned in the vast sea of sounds of the battle.

She swallowed and grunted as she was forced down to one knee, the edge of the blade coming dangerously close to her throat. Her opponent pushed down in an expected surge of strength and the edge off his steel nicked the side off her neck. She hissed in pain as the blood from the wound began to snake down onto her shoulder. Her arms bawled in pain, they begged her to give in and just the demon finish her. At that moment, she heard dark chuckle. She wanted to look around for the source of the voice but it seemed to be coming from everywhere around her. All around her the laugh echoed eerily as she strained to protect herself.

"_Why do you even still fight young one?" _

The voice of the Tengu Shredder taunted her once again as she struggled. She tried to block him out, but when she did, she felt pain erupt in her head. She opened her mouth and released a silent scream. She stopped her attempts of trying to push him out and the pain subdued almost immediately.

"_Foolish girl. Have I not already told you can't defeat me? Why do you even still bother? He's gone now. You have nothing left to fight for."_

Karai gasped. Her mind went blank and for a moment she forgot everything. Where she was, what she was doing. Everything. An invisible hand reached inside her chest and wrapped its strong, bulky fingers around her heart before it began to squeeze it mercilessly. The inside of her grew cold. A ball of ice formed inside of her gut and began to incline slowly. Everywhere it passed inside of her; it left its cold, desolate wake. It dug its way into her chest where her heart, still not recovered from its by the attack by the cruel, invisible hand that left it broken and crushed, was not spared the wrath of the ice. It became cold and desolate was well. Finally the ice reached her mind, where it permanently settled. It began to lodge itself inside her brain and took its time as it did so. As it burrowed its way deep into her empty thoughts, Karai began to remember. She remembered that she had been on a mission. A very important mission. There had been a monster and then she made a deal. After that she left, but was attacked again. There was fighting, but then she began to lose. And that's when the voice spoke.

The voice.

"_Foolish girl. Have I not already told you can't fight me? Why do you even still bother? He's gone now. You have nothing left to fight for."_

Chaplin is dead.

The realization hit like a ton of bricks. He was gone. Once she realized this, she felt a new sensation inside of her. Warmth…no, not warmth. Heat. _Fire_. Fire blazed inside of her. It ripped through her and melted all of the ice that had formed. The depression left in its wake melted quickly, it did not stand a chance as it wasted away and was instead replaced by pure rage. The fire found her heart and revived it in its image. It did not return it to the determined, calm and focused state it was before. It was forged it and made it into hard steel that could not be penetrated. The hand returned and tried once again to crush her heart but the moment it touched the burning steel, it was scorched and forced to retreat. Finally, the fire reached her mind where the last of the ice resided. It was at this point where the fire blazed at its best. The grief and pain left her mind as the ice melted. But that was not all that left. Even when the ice had melted the fire continued to burn. It set anything that nothing to do with its rage and hate ablaze. It completely took over.

Karai opened her eyes. Funny, she never even remembered closing them. She attacked. She did not plan, she did not think, she did not even bother to look where she swung. She only attacked. She heard more soldiers rushing to her and even though she did not look, she knew was surrounded. She struck again. Harder and harder each time. Around her she heard the cries of her fallen opponents as they crumpled into piles of bones around her feet. Each time she struck, she felt her blade hit something. Never did she miss a target. Her steel cheered and grew greedy for more victory, but was disappointed when it realized that there was nothing left to defeat. Slowly, the fire began to die.

Karai looked around her; her breathing was heavy as she took in the carnage she had caused. The remains of the soldiers were scattered everywhere. Empty armor and katana where everywhere. Some of them where covered with blood, others were clean as if they had never tasted a single drop.

Karai looked down at her body and saw that she was covered with small cuts. Blood oozed from small cuts on her torso and arm. The fire in her finally flickered out completely. When she emerged from her state of rage, the pain of the cuts greeted her on her. They were small, but there were so many of them that the all of the pain from them together was enough to make her collapse.

She had expected to fall onto the dirt ground but was surprised when a strong arm caught her around her waist. She looked up and found a concerned, blurry Leonardo looking back down at her. He did not look nearly as injured as she did, except for a wound on his shoulder blade. She assumed that whoever had been attacking him, took interest in her when they noticed how easily she was tearing through their forces. He looked at her with shock evident on her face. She glanced up at the Battle Shell where April did the same. The moment Karai saw her she turned away bitterly. She could not bear look at April when she reminded her so much of Chaplin.

Leo sighed and looked around at the carnage surrounding him. He tore his eyes away from it and instead focused on getting Karai back to the Battle Shell. "Can you walk?" Leo asked her in a quiet tone. Even though he had no idea what was going through Karai's head at the moment and the grief she experienced, his voice was still ridden with genuine sympathy and kindness as he spoke to her.

The truth was that Karai was very well capable of walking on her own. She had no major injury that prevented her from doing so. Yet, her feet were like lead when she tried to move them. They did not want her to leave. They wanted her to stay in that exact spot. She wanted to forget the Tengu Shredder, forget the important mission, forget the threat against the world right now. She wanted to stay in that exact spot. As the Tengu said, she no longer had anything to fight for. So why move? Why not just stay there and wait until this chaos had passed? She had failed Chaplin; nothing else mattered.

She gave a simple shake of her head. "No." She said. She was surprised at how bitter and tired she sounded when she spoke. Her voice was bleak and despondent. Leo did not say another word and lifted her into her arms. He carried her to the back of the Battle Shell. April opened the door for him and stood back as he placed Karai inside the van. Karai mumbled a thank you and scooted as far as she could and buried her head in the corner where she hugged herself tightly.

April turned to Leo, her face ashen and her lips parted. She looked outside and her eyes wandered over the remains of the soldiers. She turned back to Leo and sighed. "What…what _was _that? She didn't even _notice _all the cuts and…that _scream_. I could hear it from in here." She said in a low voice. Despite her low tone, Karai still hear her but at the moment did not care.

Leo leaned against the back of the Battle Shell and shrugged. "I dunno, she just…_snapped_ all of a sudden. One second she could barely hold her own and next thing I know she's taken down twelve of them single handedly. She never missed a target…not _one_."

April turned her gaze to Karai again who still sat with her head in the corner, concealed from anyone else.

"We should probably get out of here." Leo said to get April's attention. He nodded her and asked, "How's your head?" April groaned and placed a hand on her forehead.

"Just an extreme migraine. Nothing a nap and some pills won't fix." She said as she leaned back in her seat. Leo nodded and was about to shut the backdoors when April stopped him. She noticed the cut on his shoulder that he thought he could hide from her and she pounced on him. "What's that?" She demanded as she began to examine the cut. Leo made the foolish mistake of glancing at Karai by accident and April noticed. "She did it when she went crazy didn't she?" She whispered sharply.

She tried to get a good look at the wound but Leo caught her hands with his own and pushed her away. "April relax, it just a little knick. I'll live." He said in an exasperated tone. He was in no mood to be mothered right now but he was at least glad that April was apparently back to her regular self.

"Just a knick? Leo it's _four _inches long and from _her_! Now let me see it!" She hissed. She tried to free her wrists from Leo's grip. She pulled as hard as she could but given that she was already no match for Leo's strength and was still weak from her concussion, she made no such prevail. She continued to strain, and even had to resort to placing her foot against the wall of the Battle Shell. All the while, Leo stood there with a tired look on his face as he watched April continue to free herself from him. Finally, she gave up and collapsed onto her backside. He gave a sideways look and narrowed his eyes. "You done?" He asked flatly.

April pouted and nodded. Leo chuckled and patted her should sympathetically. "Look, it was an accident okay? She didn't mean it she was just in the heat in the of the moment. I'll get this taken care of. You really think _Don's _gonna let me sneak past him with this?" Leo said as he pointed to his shoulder.

April snorted. "You can't sneak a paper cut past that boy." She said with a roll of her eyes. Leo laughed until he noticed her serious expression. He deadpanned and his arms dropped to his side. "He really forced you to let him fix your paper cut?"

April shrugged and gave Leo a smile. "Apparently some paper is coated with bleach which can be very toxic if it enters in your bloodstream, no matter how small the amount." April said mocking Donatello's condescending voice. Leo laughed again and shook his head. "Well thank God he was there for you that day April, we could've lost you." He said sarcastically. The two shared another laugh before Leo became serious. "Which reminds me, what the hell were you thinking earlier? You almost got yourself killed April! Pull a stunt like that again you can forget about _ever _going on another mission if you live through whatever, idiotic thing you do next. You got that!?"

"What's that? Thank you for saving your life? Oh no problem, anytime." April shot back.

"No! Not _anytime_. This is exactly why I wanted I wanted you to stay in the van when we got here. I'm serious April. Don't do that again." Leo said as he placed a hand on her arm. April smiled and held her hands up in surrender. "Sure thing, boss." She said with a salute.

Leo scoffed and slammed the door in her face to make his point. He climbed into the Battle Shell and drove off. As it had been when they entered, the Battle Shell was silent as they drove. They had drove for about half an hour.

April spent the majority of that time staring at Karai's unreadable face. She had finally emerged from her corner and instead stared expressionlessly at the wall of the Battle Shell. In front of the van, Leo had busied himself with a conversation with Mikey. He had called to check up on his brothers and was upset to learn that they too had been attacked. The call was only meant to last a few minutes but Leo stayed on. He was desperate to take his mind off what had transpired with Karai earlier. So desperate that he asked Mikey to tell him all about what it was like to fight with Justice Force. Leo understood none of what Mikey said. Some of his speech was too fast to understand while the rest of it was not even definable words. Only sound effects of what Mikey could recall.

"And then Silver Sentry was all like, "You will wreak havoc here no more, evil dragon creature!" Then Chrysalis was all like, "PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FT!" And then Nobody was all like, "BOOM! POW! SMACK!" And then Metal Head was all like, "CLANG! CLANG CLANG! And then Tsunami was all like, "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!" OOH! And theeeeeeeeeeen-"

The entire time, Leo would listen with a content smile on his face as Mikey continued to ramble on. Leo could have hung up and his brother would still continue to reenact the battle through poorly done onomatopoeia.

Meanwhile, April on the other hand attempted to strike a conversation with Karai. She scooted down some until the two were a few inches away and drummed her fingers on the seat awkwardly. She undid her hair from its braid and began to mindless play with her long, scarlet strands. Finally, she spoke.

"So," She started nervously. "What was that all about? You know the whole, fit of…_whatever_ back there?"

Karai regarded her only with a grimace before she turned away again. But of course, April was not deterred.

"It just seemed so sudden and out of the blue. It was almost as if you were a completely different person, like you were taken over by something." April continued as she stared thoughtfully at her feet. The Battle Shell remained silent as Karai once again refused to respond.

April sighed, becoming frustrated. She was not used to this. Usually whenever she saw one of the guys acting weird and tried to force them into talking it would always work. She was not used to this much resiliency, not even from Raphael.

"Well _whatever _happened, try not to do it again. If you lose control like that again you could hurt someone, you damn near yourself killed out there and-"

"I do _not _wish to talk about this at the moment. Especially not with _you. _What happened is in the past now and is none of your concern. So I would appreciate it if you leave the subject alone, as well as me." Karai snapped fiercely. Her eyes were bloodshot and ferocious as she glared at April hatefully. April pressed her tongue against the inside of her cheek dropped her head.

"You see that's where you're _wrong_." April stated in a dark tone. "While you were having your little "fit of rage" you hurt Leo."

Karai looked up at this and frowned. She wanted to say she did not care but she would by telling a total, bold face lie to herself.

"If it hurts one of _them_. One of my _brothers_, then yeah it's my business. Tell me what happened out there, Karai." April mumbled. She made sure to keep her voice low so that Leo, who was still on the phone, would not hear her as she spoke. She tightened her jaw and leaned away from Karai. "Remember that promise I made you earlier?" She said in a nonchalant voice.

"Look," Karai started. She worked up enough courage to look at April. "I am sorry that I hurt Leonardo by accident, truly I am. But as of now I do _not _want to discuss that matter. Something else far more important is on my mind and I wish to be left alone if that is not too much to ask."

April opened her mouth the respond but stopped. Something felt wrong. Out of nowhere, bile rushed up her throat and she knew she would not be able to hold it back. She leaped out of her seat with her hand hovering over her mouth and tapped Leo on the arm.

"Pull over!" She demanded.

"What? Why? Mikey hold, on I gotta go I-…yes Silver Sentry is awesome now I really need to-….because April asked me to pull over!...I don't know what's wrong with her! Hang up and let me pull over and I might find out. I….okay, okay, I will. Bye." Leo hung up and set the phone down. He almost asked April why she needed him to pull over but noticed that her face was slightly green. He immediately pulled over and before he even came to a complete stop, April darted out of the van and over to the side of the rode. She fell onto her hands and knees and began to vomit violently into a ditch. Leo rushed to her side and pulled her hair back. He began to rub her back and whisper comforting words as she continued to throw up. Even Karai, who just seconds ago had been ready to punch April in the face, left the Battle Shell and watched April from a distance with slight concern, or curiosity to put it in her words.

April heaved one last time and after that, nothing else happened. She sat there on her hands and knees breathing heavily. Leo gagged at the stench of the vomit.

"You all done?" He asked April. April nodded and Leo helped her to her feet.

"Where did _that _come from?" Leo asked her as he continued to walk her to back to the Battle Shell.

"It was probably just a side effect from the concussion." April said weakly as Leo lifted her into the back of the Battle Shell.

"You gonna be okay for the rest of the ride?" Leo offered. April shook her head and declined.

"We can go ahead, we aren't that far from the city." April replied as she collapsed into her seat. Leo hesitated before he nodded and stepped away so Karai could climb inside. Once they were both in Leo closed the door. Once it was closed he leaned against it and slapped his forehead with both hands.

"Never again will Leonardo Hamato travel with two women all on his own." Leo muttered to himself as he stormed off towards the front the Battle Shell yet again and drove off. This time, they made it back to April's apartment without any setbacks. They were the last ones to arrive and the room released a collective sigh of relief when they walked in. The moment April set foot in the Antique Shop; Casey crushed her in a giant hug. He planted a big kiss on her forehead and squeezed her tighter. "Thank _God _you two okay, we were worried sick, what took you so long?"

The three exchanged glances until Leo finally cleared his throat and spoke. "We got held up at the Base by another sneak attack, but don't worry we're fine."

Don's eyes landed on Leo's cut and he scoffed. "Yeah, right. C'mon, you know the drill. Get your shell upstairs." Don said. Leo rolled his eyes and slumped over to the stairs, followed by the remaining occupants of the room. Once everyone was upstairs, Don went to work on Leo's shoulder. Everyone explained how their mission had gone; apparently, they all had been attacked while they went to speak with their wanted recruits. They all took turns explaining what happened. Don and Mikey had to face some kind of dragon, Raph and Casey were occupied with gargoyle like creatures and Master Splinter and Ancient One had to deal with Hebi's forces who were apparently now under the Tengu Shredder's command.

When it was Leo's turn to talk and he got to the part about April getting her concussion; Don, Raph, Mikey and Casey all mercilessly scolded her before they went on about how they were she was alive, right before they scolded her again.

Don gave April some aspirin and ordered her to go bed. She of course obeyed and left the room. She disappeared down the hall with Casey, who had been sent by Don to make sure she goes directly to bed and stays there. Once she was gone Don turned Karai, before he could even offer to help her she held a hand to stop a hand to stop him. "There is no need to tend to my injuries. I can assure, I feel better than I look."

"Okay. Whatever you say." He said with a small smile. Karai nodded in thanks left, disappearing into April's bedroom.

Once she was gone, Raphael burst out laughing along with Mikey and Leo.

"You little _pussy_!" He said through laughs as he shoved Don playfully. When Don looked confused, Raph took the time to explain. "Had that have been one of us you would've been on our _asses_, but you just let Karai walk off?"

"Yeah," Leo said deciding join in. "Why didn't you go helicopter mom on _her_?"

Don narrowed his eyes at his brothers. He opened his mouth in repeated attempts to retort but nothing ever came out. Finally he stood up and huffed. "Shut up!" He whined in a childlike manner before he stomped off. His brothers followed him, teasing him the entire time.

Master Splinter and Ancient One were now the only ones who remained in the room. Master Splinter sighed and shook his head. Ancient One turned to him and gave him a comforting smile. "Be happy Splinter-san, we have all achieved a great victory today. I am just glad that Karai and Ms. O'Neil returned from their mission. Though I must say, I would to have seen a…a….what do the young people say? Aah, yes! Cat fight. That would have been fun to see, yes?"

Master Splinter narrowed his eyes at Ancient One. "No." He said bluntly. He stood up and stretched before heading towards the basement. "Come old friend, we must rest. We had a long day you and I."

"Indeed we did Splinter-san." Ancient One agreed. He sounded as if his mouth were full. Master Splinter turned to find him munching on a chocolate bar that must have materialized out of thin air.

"I know I will regret asking this, but where were you keeping that?" Master Splinter asked as he gave the round man a puzzled look. Ancient One chuckled and took Splinter under his arm as they walked off. "No, no, no; Splinter-san. I never tell anyone about where I keep my secret treats."

Master Splinter eyed the Ancient One's pudgy form and shuddered. "I take back my earlier question, I do not believe I wish to know, old friend." He turned to Ancient One and found that he started on yet another chocolate bar. Master Splinter stared with a deadpanned expression and Ancient One blinked innocently.

"What?" He asked as he cocked his head sideways.

Master Splinter sighed and walked off. "Nothing old friend…it is…nothing." He said as he descended down the stairs. Ancient One shrugged and followed behind him, as he munched happily on his chocolate bar.

* * *

Karai sat on the foot of April's bed and stared at the floor. Her face was expressionless and her mind was blank. She was surprised by herself. Once she was finally behind closed doors, she had expected to find herself weeping hysterically over Chaplin's death, but at the moment she wanted to do nothing more than sit there. She was too tired to make tears make tears, and no desire whatsoever to cry. She was not depressed, or desolate, or morose with Chaplin gone. She felt exactly as she should at the moment, alone. Chaplin had been all she had left and she failed him. Now she was gone, and had no one.

"_Did my news from earlier upset you, child?" _The Tengu's voice stung in her head like fire ants as it taunted her. He laughed as she clenched the comforter on the bed and bit her bottom lip.

"_And to think…there is no one else to blame but _yourself_." _He continued.

Karai began to shake, as silent tears born from her eyes fell down her cheek. Her jaw tightened, as the Tengu continued to relentlessly condescend her.

"_You are a failure Karai! All you life you have done nothing but fail!" _

Karai growled, she felt the fire from earlier ignite inside of her again. She stood on her feet and strode over to April's closet. She threw the door open and yanked a black flannel shirt, a pair of black jeans and a pair of knee high, flat, leather boots. She tore away the rest of her suit. It was useless to her now, being torn in so many places. She exchanged the suit for the clothes she had just taken from April's closet.

"_You fail everyone! You failed your clan!"_

Karai showed no reaction to his words. She yanked the shirt over her head and forced the buttons into their designated holes. She yanked the pants on before pulled the boots on as well. She strode over to April's drawer and scanned the surface until she found the hairband she had been looking for. She pulled her black hair back into a short a ponytail. As she was about to walk away something caught her eyes.

On April's dresser was a framed picture of her and Casey. She snatched the picture up and stared at it hatefully. In the photo, Casey and April stood in front of a beautiful, crystal blue lake. The skies were clear with large, white clouds and the sun shinned brightly. Casey wore a simple black t-shirt, cargo shorts and sneakers. He flashed a wide, grin off to the camera. His blue eyes twinkled with glee. Held so tightly in his arms that Karai wondered how she was even able to breathe, was April. She had on a yellow, floral patterned sundress that stopped a few inches above her knees. A large pair of sunglasses rested on her head. Her arms were wrapped tightly around Casey's neck, as she smiled beautifully at the camera. In the background, Michelangelo crept up on the two of them with a bucket of water in his hands and a mischievous look on his face, as the oblivious couple posed for their picture.

Karai's hand shook as she held the picture the picture.

"_Never will you have a life like that." _The Tengu Shredder teased with a hint of disgust in his voice. _"The one person you could have had that with is gone, and all because you failed to come to his rescue."_

Karai slammed the picture down on the dresser, unable to look at it any longer. She stormed over to the bed and grabbed her katana scabbard. Enough was enough.

"You are right." She said to the empty, dark room. She knew that the Tengu was not there with her physically and therefore verbal communication was pointless, but did not care. She hoped that perhaps this way, she would make more clear.

"I did fail to save Chaplin." She said quietly. She unsheathed her sword a few inches and looked at the reflection of her fierce, dark eyes in the blade. "But, know this Tengu." She shoved her sword back into her scabbard and slung it over her shoulder. "I will _not _fail, to avenge him."


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. TMNT as well as all characters used do not belong to me. **

* * *

April flushed the toilet and closed the lid before she rested her head against its cool surface. She puffed out a breath and pushed herself onto her feet.

She went over to the mirror to brush her teeth and wrinkled her nose when she saw her reflection. She looked as if she had been had been through hell and back, and after the day she had, she felt she had the right to say she had been. She had changed into a pair of yoga pants and tank top and treated herself to a long, hot shower after getting home. She moaned and placed her hand over her stomach as she felt it begin to flip around inside of her. Moments later, she found herself in the exact position she had been in when she rushed into the bathroom that morning at two o'clock AM. On her knees, and leaning over the toilet as everything she had eaten that day spewed out of her. She heard the bed creak in the guest room.

"You alright in there, babe?" Called Casey's groggy but still concerned voice from the bedroom.

April flushed again and closed the lid before she stood up and went over to the sink to brush her teeth again.

"I'm fine, Casey. Go back to sleep. It's probably just something I ate." She called back. She spit out the toothpaste in her mouth and groaned as she exited the bathroom. She went to sit on the edge of the bed and flopped onto her back with her face buried in her hands. "Ugh, that's the last time I eat left over tacos as a midnight snack." She groaned into her palms. Casey pushed himself into a sitting position and eyed April curiously. "I ate one and ain't nothing wrong with me." He said with a shrug.

"That's because _your _body is used to eating gross food. You managed to survive _Leo's _cooking once. On _Thanksgiving_. You have a stomach of steel." April said with a snort. Casey was quiet for a moment.

"Should I be insulted or flattered?" He inquired with true suspicion. April craned her neck to face him in the dim room and gave him a smile. "You feel _however _you wanna feel, Casey. While you sit there and ponder if your freak of nature stomach is a blessing or a curse, I'm gonna go get a glass of water and a little fresh air." She said as she herself back into a sitting position.

"Just get back here soon. Now that you've woke me up, I can't fall back asleep. Gonna need something to do all night." He said with an audible smirk on his face.

"Some_thing_ or some_one_?" April asked him as she pulled sneakers onto her feet. She tried to maintain the annoyance in her voice as she also tried to suppress a smile.

"You're smart babe, I think you know." He continued in a sly tone. He scooted over to April and coiled his arms around her waist. He began to kiss her neck and shoulder and she giggled and tried to push him away, but he only tightened his grip.

"Unbelievable. The city is under attack by an ancient Japanese demon, there are monsters roaming around, a ninja who hates us is sleeping in the next room, we spent the entire day being attacked by monsters while going to our greatest foes for help and I just threw up, _twice _mind you. Are you _really_ telling me that the only thing on your mind right now is sex?" April said as Casey continued to gently kiss her.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." He moaned into her neck. "Besides, I had to put with Hun. Don't I deserve a…"reward" for that?" April rolled her eyes and moved her hands to his bare stomach. She began to wiggle her fingers and Casey yelped and pushed himself away from her. "No fair! No tickling allowed! You know that!" He whined as he cocooned himself under the covers, leaving only his head exposed.

April smiled and sat back down on the bed. Casey scooted away fearfully and gave her a warning glare. April held her hands behind her back. "It's okay, I'm unarmed."

It only took a few seconds for her to realize her accidental terrible people and her lips twitched as they broke in a smile, and then a light giggle. Casey only stared back with a disappointed looks.

"That is the worse pun I have ever heard, which is saying a lot given how much we hang around Chucklehead down there. Forget it, tonight's off. You don't deserve all of this." He said as he laced her hands together and placed them behind his head. Her long hair fell down and formed a red curtain on either side of the two.

April laughed and rolled her eyes. She crawled over the him and swung leg over his side so that she straddled him and placed a hand on either side of his head. "You're bluffing." She muttered.

"Damn right I am. C'mere." Casey replied shamelessly. He pulled her down, and met her lips with a tender, but passionate kiss. They finally pulled and April smiled. She gave Casey one final peck on his forehead before she climbed off of him and began to make her way to the door.

"Hey!" Casey called after her. April stopped in the doorway and groaned but turned anyway. She looked back with a tired smile on her face.

"I love you." He said simply in a childish voice.

"I love you too Casey. But if I don't get an aspirin and some fresh air soon, this head ache is gonna drive me ballistic and I'll rip out your spine and strangle you with it." She replied sweetly.

Casey's face frowned as he pictured April's threat in his head and shuddered. "Sorry, sweetheart. Carry on."

"Thank you." April said, she laughed and shook her head as she left the room. She traveled down the dark hallway to the kitchen where she fixed the glass of water she promised herself. She sipped the cool liquid from the glass as she entered the living room. She grabbed a black leather jacket from the coat rack that Casey had gave her when they started dating. It belonged to him and was therefore much too large for her. Her arms were not long enough to stick out the sleeves and she could probably fit another person inside if they were the exact same size as her. She pushed the sleeves back so her hands stuck out and grabbed her glass of water. She went over to the window where she climbed out onto the fire escape and ascended onto the roof. She sipped her water and enjoyed the silence. The only thing the city had to offer her that she would gladly accept.

As she sipped her glass water she heard something that caused her to look over the edge of the roof. It was a jingling sound, like a bell. The kind her shop made whenever someone opened or closed the door. She continued to peer over the edge of the roof to see who else was up at the moment and why they were leaving her apartment. When they finally emerged from the shop, her fingers went numb and she dropped the glass of water.

She watched as Karai left the building. Dressed in her own clothes and armed with a single katana. She turned around and closed the door gently, in attempt to keep the bell from sounding again. Once the door was closed to she started down the sidewalk and did her best to keep quiet as she walked.

April felt her jaw tighten as she watched her walk-off. She still had not forgiven her for strange behavior earlier. She was not able to get past how she had gotten so angry all off a sudden and managed to single-handedly take down several of the Skeleton warriors all on her own when before, she could barely stand against one. Even Leo had problems holding his own against them. What April was even more curious about was what had set Karai off in the first place. One minute she was struggling for her life and the next, she let out a horrible cry and began to effortlessly power through the attackers.

Now she was mysteriously leaving in the middle of night all on her without anyone knowing.

April shook her head in disgust.

Rather than alert the others or call after Karai to stop her she goes over the fire escape and climbs down. She goes past the window that will take back into her home and continues to descend until she is in the alley next to her building. She peeked around the corner and continued to watch as Karai strode down the sidewalk at a quick pace. Once she was at a safe enough distance, April stepped out from the alley and began to follow her. She would occasionally duck into an alley whenever Karai turned around after hearing April accidentally kick a can. As she walked, April accidentally stepped in a puddle causing a loud splash. She barely made it into the alley and avoided Karai's gaze.

She sighed in relief when Karai turned around and walked away again, this time a little faster; but April managed to keep up well enough. After following her for an hour April still had no idea where Karai was going, and she was sure that Karai did not know either. Every once and a while she would stop as she was lost or reconsidering what she was doing, but then she would clench her fist and continue walking. This happened about five times.

She sighed and duck into an alley to take a break. She leaned against a defaced wall and groaned into her palms.

She knew that what she was doing was stupid, wreck less, thoughtless and brash but she was not able to contain her curiosity, a trait that had proven to result in nothing but disaster in her past.

She wanted to learn her lesson, she wanted to learn to stay put and mind her own business but her hunger for the answers to questioned that burned inside her was too powerful for her to ever hold herself back. She promised herself she would only follow Karai for a little while and head straight back to tell the others. She did not dare, ask herself "What could possibly go wrong?" seeing as how irony never worked in her favor.

"Oh, screw this." She said to herself. She decided she had been impetuous enough for one night and readied herself to head back.

Once she turned and was about to head back to her building, but before she could, a foot connected with her chest and knocked her onto the damp, cement. The same foot held her in place as a blade was pointed at her throat. She looked up and found that she was completely at Karai's mercy.

"Give me one reason why I should not kill you and leave you to rot in this alley." She said an eerily calm voice. She pushed her foot down a little tighter on April's chest, causing her to gasp.

"Well for one, I was going back anyway. And two, you would have _hell _to pay if you did." April shot back. She managed to keep all the fear out of her voice and looked Karai square in the eye.

Karai sighed and stepped off April. April stood to her feet and brushed herself off. She blew a strand of hair out of her face and stared at Karai. "So, are just going to…_not _explain why you stole my clothes and bolted or are you going to tell me that it is, "none of my concern"".

"Look, I am in no mood to-

"No, Karai! You see I do not _care _what mood you are in. Ever since this "temporary partnership" started, you've done nothing but keep secrets from us. You want me to get off your back and trust you so badly, but you want to lurk around like a shadow all the time? How can you expect us to trust you if you keep acting like this?"

Karai bit the inside of her cheek and looked away.

"At this point, I have _every _right to an explanation and you know it. Now, answer me. _What _are you doing out here?" April crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes as she impatiently awaited an answer.

Karai rolled her eyes and sighed. "I have no time for this." She said in a frustrated voice. She walked away but April only followed her as she stormed off. She walked by Karai's side and was ignored as she glared at her.

"Can you at least tell me where you're _going?_" April asked after they had walked about a block.

"I'm going to…confront someone. It is very personal." She said simply. She had hoped that she had given a good enough reason to get her to leave alone. April looked away ran her hand through her frizzy hair. She continued to do so as she walked. A clear sign to those who had known her for a while that she was nervous. She kept her eyes focused on a gum wrapper that drifted through the gentle breeze.

"You know, you're in trouble when the others find out about this." April said as she continued to stare at the wrapper. She almost laughed in spite of herself at how childish she sounded.

"Then go back and tell everyone of what I have done. That way, I will be forced to leave and you will not have to worry about me anymore." Karai said. Her voice bitter and harsh.

"My goal was never to get you kicked out the group. In case you've forgotten we kind of _need _you. My _goal_ was keep you in check and make sure you didn't try to pull anything. And right now, what you're doing is _not _really earning you that many trust points from me." April said. She stepped in front of Karai and cut her off so that she could look her in the eye as she spoke.

Karai's lips were in a tight line and her fist were clenched. She trembled a little as she spoke.

"Maybe, it's so hard for you to trust me because you won't give me a chance!" She shouted.

April laughed and sputtered. She blinked several times as her mouth opened and closed silently over and over again. "Won't give you a chance? Won't give you a chance! We've given you several _chances_, Karai! We gave a chance when we first met you! We gave you the chance to be on our side when you had the perfect opportunity to! We gave you a chance when we tried to keep you from getting involved with another one the Shredder's _genocidal _crimes!"

"Watch your tongue, while you still have it!" Karai snapped at April.

"Then…you _help _him beat the four of them so badly and to the point where the only way they can take him down and stop is to _blow _themselves up! Do you _any _idea, how it felt to see that explosion with them in there and think they were dead because you were too _thick-headed _to listen them and do anything about it!" April swallowed and shook her head. Tears filled her eyes as her gaze fell to the ground.

"And let's not forget the time you _invaded _their home and destroyed it. You let Leo come from Japan after three _months _to find his family gone and his home destroyed. _You _are _heartless_, Karai! You are nothing more than a heartless, _puppet _that always did what she was told no matter what consequences others would have to face because of your choices. And all because you wanted to please that monster you called a father!"

Karai said nothing as April stood before. Her face as red as her hair as tears of fury fell down her cheeks. "After everything you did then…after all the times you said we should trust you, only to have to you prove yourself and us wrong." April's eyes met with Karai's. The emerald orbs that were usually kind, soft and comforting were now as cold and hard as an ice shard so that they matched her tone. "Give me one reason…just _one _reason why we should trust you now. Don't pretend I have I reason to act like this, because you know damn well that I have that right. You know what you've done, and know the affect it had on us. So don't try pull that, "I deserve your trust" garbage because you know you don't."

April swallowed and took a step forward so she was standing right next to Karai, who was frozen. Her face was unreadable. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was still in a tight line. She stared straight ahead of her and did not acknowledge April in any way.

April sighed. "Do whatever you want." She said in a low grim tone to her feet. She hugged Casey's jacket tighter around her and walked away. Karai stayed put, but spoke.

"You do not have _any _idea what kind of pressure I was under."

"Oroku Saki...the Foot Clan…is all I have _ever _known for all my life. You have to realize that I only did those because he was my _father _to me! He raised me! He took me in when my parents abandon me for…who _knows _what reason! He was _good _to me! Good to me in ways you never know!" Karai said. Her voice got louder as she spoke and cracked with every other word. She turned to face April who was a few yards behind her.

"Do you think that I was the "bad guy", the "villain" that I made every choice I did heartlessly? With no struggle or reluctance whatsoever? Do you think it was easy for me to what I did? Easy for me to make those promises to them that I knew I would never be able to keep? It _did _bother me, April! Until you have been in my place…until you have experienced what I have experienced and made the choices I had to, do _not_ judge me! It was never simple! It was never _easy_! It was _always _difficult! Easy for me to choose between to people I swore something to? I loved Saki as my father and he loved me as his daughter, I could have never betrayed or hurt him."

April placed a hand on Karai's shoulder. "Karai…stop telling yourself that. It's not doing you any good. Saki…" She paused as her wrenched and turned to as ice. She contemplated if she should speak the next few words, she almost did; but true to her style, she forced herself to say them.

"He never thought of you as a daughter, Karai. He used you, he manipulated you. He placed you in danger, carved out a path for you that you obviously aren't meant to follow. He _lied _to you your entire life about who he is. That's not a father Karai."

April stepped closer to Karai. Tears had dried on her face, but her eyes and cheeks were still red. She looked Karai over with the one emotion she thought she would never feel the woman, which continued to return whenever they spoke. Sympathy. Karai looked as if she believed every word she had spoken. That Oroku Saki was her father. That he cared for her. That he loved her, when it was obvious to everyone that he was nothing more than a prized pawn he knew would win him many battles. She had been led to believe that the life she lived was her destined path. That it was all she had when in reality, when it was nothing more than a web of lies spun by a venomous spider that she had been trapped in her entire life.

And Karai knew it but would never, not even with her last breath, admit that she did. And if she was not allowed to speak it, neither could anyone else.

What occurred in the following moments happened so fast that either of the women had been asked to recall them, they would be unable to do with words.

Karai gritted her teeth, and had not noticed her hand had moved to the hilt of her sword until she felt the leather if it pressed tightly against her palm. In a move movement of impossible speed and precision she pulled the sword out of its scabbard and swung it April direction.

April dove out the blades path instinctively and silently thanked Master Splinter for the lessons he had taught her on evasion. Without them, she was sure that she would have been on the writhing on pain as the life bled out of her. Before she could celebrate and praise herself for saving her own life, she had to dodge yet another slice of Karai's steel which she continued to slash in her direction.

April recognized the behavior.

It had been what had occurred the other day at Bishop's base when had went into a frenzy and taken out all the skeletal demons. But there was a difference, while then she had to satisfy her rage, she now attacked to out of sorrow. Sorrow she could express in no other way besides a meaningless attack she could not prevent herself from doing. She was a puppet of her own misery. The misery that cultivated from many roots. Too many roots. The fall of her empire. The annexation of her home. The loss of the only person she could ever call her friend. They all came together and told her that bloodshed was the only way they would leave her.

Therefore, she listened.

April ducked and avoided another swipe of the sword as Karai advanced. She did not try to speak to Karai and calm her down. A moment wasted trying to cease the attack verbally would be the one would cost her her life.

April swiftly maneuvered sideways as a strike intended for her head instead sliced a battered stop sign in half. April began to grow tired. She knew she could not dodge forever. Karai was a very seasoned warrior while April was still only a student. Eventually, Karai would find a way to land a hit on April's flesh.

The next time Karai swung at her, April caught her hands in the tightest grip she could manage. "Karai, you need to _stop_! You won't accomplish anything by killing me!"

Karai countered with a kick to April's stomach that forced her to release her. April stumbled backwards into a light pole. The cold, steel collided with April's injured head. Stars and black dots danced in front in front of her and clouded her already blurry vision even more. She clutched her head and gasped sharply as she fell to ground. This moment, unlike like other seemed to happen in slow motion.

April could very easily re-call how she fell to the pavement. It would be impossible to forget the way her head took another blow when it bounced off the curb of the sidewalk before it, along with the rest her body became an almost motionless heap on the cement.

In pain, defeated and vulnerable and as good as dead.

April tried to get her bearings and stand but did not get as far as attempting to lift her head before she was forced back down onto her back. The stars and dots slowly faded away, as if to allow her to get a good look at the last thing she would ever see. She puffed out slow, cautious breaths that stirred the hair that rested on her face.

From above her, Karai gazed down at the woman who lay at her feet. Locks of her long hair were fanned out around her. It blended it with the river of blood that snaked from the re-opened wound on her head. Every few seconds she would wince from the pain, but would tighten her jaw to hold back the whimper she would never give Karai the privilege of hearing.

April swallowed and spared her arm a little of her strength so that she could brush her hair out of her face and get a better look at Karai. Her eyes gleamed with hatred as she glowered at her.

April did not dare move. She stayed completely still, her breathes were heavy and rapid as she waited for Karai's next move.

Karai did nothing. She only stared back. She uncurled her fingers from around her hilt and let it fall to the ground. Her expression was blank as she stood there and looked down April. She closed her eyes and sighed before she turned her back.

From behind her, April grabbed hold of the pole and pulled herself to her feet. Her head swam and throbbed when she moved but she was too busy being confused by Karai's actions to pay it much mind. She considered still going after Karai, even after what had just happened, but at same time thought it would be best for both of them if she turned back. It was obvious what the sensible choice, and what the brash and foolish choice was. Yet still, she was torn.

Eventually she made her choice. She turned around and began to go in the direction from which she had come.

Karai listened as her footsteps faded away; she turned and watched as her figure walked away slowly. She sighed and reached down to gather her katana but as she went to pick it up, she noticed something. On the ground, she saw a shadow. A shadow of something, long, dark and sharp that loomed directly over her.

Her eyes widened and she shouted a curse in Japanese. This caught the attention of April who whipped her head at the sound just to watch as Karai swung her sword to block a strike from another blade would have impaled her had her pace been not as quick.

Karai was forced to her knees as she struggled not to crumple under the weight of her opponent. She looked upwards and was finally able to get a look at him. Once she caught a glimpse, the shock that rushed through her caused her too briefly cease restraint.

The Metal Foot Mystic. The deadly, powerful blades he wielded were his own arms which he had willed to form a deadly weapon.

In that split-second it took for Karai to realize to realize this, her opponent attacked. He swept her feet from beneath her and she collapsed onto her back, he held her down with his foot on her chest laughed sinisterly.

He then raised his arms above Karai's trapped form and prepared to plunge them into her flesh. But before he was able to, something collided with his face and caught him by surprise. He looked upwards with snarl in the direction the object came from and his eyes landed on April.

"You foolish mortal! You _dare _interfere in my affairs? For this, you pay with every drop of blood in your pathetic body!" He hissed.

He began to advance towards her, and in the process unwittingly released Karai from his hold. His mistake, and Karai's advantage were short lived however when morphed one of blade shaped arms back into a regular limb. He grabbed her by her hair before she could attack and threw her off to side, and onto the other side of the street.

Karai rocketed backwards and did not stop until she went straight through the glass window of a shop where she landed on a display platform. Her limp legs still stuck out the window and she lay there motionless as glass fell from the top of the window and rained down onto her.

"Karai!" April shouted after her. She took off in Karai's direction, determined to reach her but just before she could, the Mystic appeared before her and blocked her from Karai. She began to walk backwards, only to have him take a step closer each time.

"Well, well, well what have we here?" He said in a wickedly pleasant voice as he advanced on her.

April continued to back away until she hit the curb and stumbled. She fell to ground and frantically scooted away from the Mystic as he stalked closer her with a smile that implied he enjoyed the situation April was in much more than he should have. Eventually, as she always happens to in situations like these, April came to a dead end.

April was trapped with no way of escape. She could of course run away. With or without Karai, but either way, she would not get very far. Not that she was able to reach Karai anyway. Fighting back was completely out of the question and calling for help was as well. So instead, she settled on staying put in hope that the universe would be in her favor and the Mystic would let her live for whatever reason. But of course, she had no such luck.

He reached down and snatched her up by her neck and slammed her against a thick glass window where he held her in place, his grip was so tight that she was not even been able to struggle against it. She squeezed her eyes closed tightly and turned her head away from him as she prepared for whatever he had in store for her.

He formed a blade with free hand and raised it above her head as he prepared to finish her off. The Mystic glanced at her face. His eyes lingered longer than he intended for them to as his brow creased. Finally he smiled as if a light bulb clicked in his head. He released April and she fell to ground in a heap. Her hand on her throat as she gasped for her.

"There has been a change of plans, human." He stated. He raised his foot above April's head and grinned. "You will be coming with me."

Before April could question this sudden change of plans, the foot was bought down and connected with her head. Stars and black dots made their long-overdue return to her vision. April's head lolled to the side and she watched as a blurry hand came down towards her. She felt herself be hefted off the ground before she came back to rest on something. Her arms and legs dangled freely and something secured her tightly by her waist that prevented her moving much, not that she would have to do much movement anyway. There was a slight thud next to her and she willed herself to look the direction of the sound.

The last thing she saw before the blackness overcame was the sight of Karai's severely scared face and bloodied face. Her eyes did not have time to express any emotion before the darkness over took her completely.

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**(A/N): DUN! DUN! DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN! Lol, corny I know but it seemed like a good way to end this. Anyways, PLEASE review! All feedback is welcomed except for flames! Thanks for reading! I apologize for any mistakes in this. Please PM me about any I will fix them. **


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